Abstract
BackgroundRecently, suicides in Greece have drawn national and international interest due to the current economic crisis. According to published reports, suicides in Greece have increased up to 40% and Crete has been highlighted as an area with the sharpest increase.AimTo investigate the suicide mortality rates in Crete between 1999 and 2013 and their association with the economic crisis.MethodsData on suicides were selected from the Department of Forensic Medicine files of the University of Crete.ResultsOur analysis showed that (1) Crete, has the highest suicide mortality rate in Greece, however no significant increase was observed between 1999 and 2013, (2) there were opposing trends between men and women, with women showing a decrease whereas men showed an increase in that period, (3) there was a significant increase of suicides in middle-aged men (40–64 yrs) and elderly, although the highest unemployment rates were observed in young men and women, and (4) finally, there was a regional shift of suicides with a significant decrease in Western Crete and a significant increase in Eastern Crete.ConclusionsAlthough, Crete has the highest suicide mortality rates in Greece, we did not observe an overall increase during the last 15 years, including the period of economic crisis. Furthermore, there was an increase in middle-aged and elderly men, whereas young men and women showed oppositional trends during the years of austerity. This may be related to the culturally different expectations for the two genders, as well as that younger individuals may find refuge to either strong family ties or by immigrating abroad. Finally, the relative increase of suicides in Eastern Crete may be explained by factors, such as the lack of community mental health services in that area.
Highlights
Suicides in Greece have drawn national and international interest due to the current economic crisis
The relative increase of suicides in Eastern Crete may be explained by factors, such as the lack of community mental health services in that area
The primary findings of the study are: (1) Crete has overall and yearly, higher Suicide mortality rate (SMR) compared to the national SMR in Greece, (2) there is no overall increase of SMRs including the period of the economic crisis (2008–2013), (3) there were opposing trends between men and women, with women showing a decrease, whereas men displaying increased rates in that period, (4) in men, there was a significant increase in middle-aged and elderly but not in the younger persons, the highest unemployment rates were observed in young men and women and (5) SMRs have decreased in Western Crete and increased in Eastern Crete, an area where the network of mental health services is markedly underdeveloped
Summary
Suicides in Greece have drawn national and international interest due to the current economic crisis. For the last several years suicides in Greece have drawn national and international interest due to the current economic crisis, which has engulfed Europe since 2008 This period coincided with the implementation of fiscal austerity, increase of unemployment rates and negative economic growth, and had severe adverse effects on various aspects of people’s daily life and probably on their mental health. In another study it was suggested that fiscal austerity measures and negative economic growth were related to significantly increased male SMRs, whereas fiscal austerity affected mostly the population between 45 and 89 years of age [6] Another long-term study from North Greece found no associations between SMRs and unemployment [7]
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