A cross-national study of the relationship between elderly suicide rates and life expectancy and markers of socioeconomic status and health care

Background: Socioeconomic status may influence cross-national variations in elderly suicide rates. Methods: The relationship between suicide rates in both sexes in the age-bands 65-74 years and 75+ years and (i) life expectancy, (ii) measures of socioeconomic status (per capita gross national domestic product (GDP) and the Gini coeffcient), and (iii) measures of the quality and quantity of available healthcare services (the proportion of GDP spent on health, per capita expenditure on health and child mortality rates) was examined using data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations. Results: The main findings were: (i) a significant negative correlation between the Gini coefficient and suicide rates for both sexes in both age-bands; (ii) a significant positive correlation between per capita expenditure on health and suicide rates for both sexes in both age-bands; (iii) the significant positive correlation between the proportion of GDP spent on health and suicide rates was only evident in males in both age-bands; (iv) a significant negative correlation between child mortality rates and suicide rates for both sexes in both age-bands; and, (v) the significant positive correlation between life expectancy and suicide rates was evident in females in both age-bands. Conclusions: A potentially testable model with five sequential stages was proposed to explain these findings.