Source: Urology  |  Posted 5 years ago

By Marvin Ross

TORONTO, CANADA -- November 14, 2006 -- While the rate of suicide among adolescents is declining in developed countries, it remains static in Canada, according to research presented in a poster here at the 56[^]th[] Annual Conference of the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA).

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Canadian adolescents but there is little epidemiological data examining rates of suicide or major depression, according to presenting investigator Amy H. Cheung, MD, assistant professor, department of psychiatry, University of Toronto, and the Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

To examine rates of depression and suicidality in adolescents, Dr. Cheung and her colleagues obtained data from the Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 1.2. This is a population based survey that was conducted by Statistics Canada to look at metal health and well being in the country.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) was evaluated through the use of structured interviews. Questions about suicidal ideation and suicide attempts were included but ideation/attempts were combined because of the low rates of suicide attempts. Five geographical regions were compared and household income was calculated taking into account family size. A low income household was one with an income of below $15,000 CAN for 1 to 2 residents, below $20,000 for 3 to 4 residents, or below $30,000 for 5 or more residents.

Lifetime prevalence rates were calculated for subjects with depression and/or suicidality while multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the association between gender, income, age and region.

The lifetime prevalence among the 2866 subjects aged 15 to 18 who were surveyed was 7.6% for depression and 13.5% for suicidality. Significant differences were observed between males and females for both. Males had less depression at compared with females (4.3% vs 11.1%). Similarly, 8.8% of males had suicidality compared with 18.4% of females. Females had significantly higher odds of having major depression and suicidality (major depressive episode odds ratio [OR] 2.77; suicidality OR 2.30)

Only one regional difference was observed. The east coast Maritime Region had a lower rate of depression (OR 0.55). The odds of suicidality increased with age (OR 1.16), low income (OR1.87) and living on the west coast in British Columbia (OR 1.64).

Dr. Cheung concluded that more research is needed to determine why these regional differences exist and if there are differences in service provision and access to aid.

[Presentation title: Canadian Community Health Survey. P18]