A regional profile of suicide in Queensland

Suicide rates were higher in the north of the state and lower in the more developed south, and rural Queensland health regions displayed both the lowest and the highest suicide rates.

Abstract

A regional profile of suicide in Queensland follows on from earlier work which failed to find urban-rural differences in suicide rates. Suicide rates were higher in the north of the state and lower in the more developed south Rural Queensland health regions displayed both the lowest (Darling Downs and Mackay) and the highest (Peninsula) suicide rates. Socioeconomic factors correlated with these differences in some regions. Suicide rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, especially the young, were high, and may have contributed to elevated suicide rates in northern Queensland, but the numbers were insufficient to account for observed differences.