Descriptive epidemiology on the trends and sociodemographic risk factors of disease burden in years of life lost to suicide in South Korea from 2000 to 2018.

Objectives In 2018, South Korea’s suicide mortality rate
was 26.59 deaths per 100 000 people; this figure is 2.2
times higher than that of the year 2000, during which
12.22 deaths per 100 000 people were ascribed to suicide.
This study aims to observe the trend of disease burden in
years of life lost (YLL) due to suicide from 2000 to 2018 in
South Korea and investigate the related sociodemographic
risk factors.
Design This quantitative research used secondary
data—including claim data, cause of death statistics,
life tables and census data—from national health
insurance corporation and Statistics Korea. Based on the
methodology of Korean National Burden of Disease study,
this study used an incidence-based approach to measure
YLL.
Results The total YLL due to suicide during the last
two decades was 4 298 886 years; the average YLL per
death was 18.65 years. The YLL rate per 100 000 people
was 482 (male: 664, female: 300) in 2018, 1.7 times
higher than the 387 (male 387, female 183) in 2000. Low
education levels and non-marital status were shown to be
related to the increase in YLL rate.
Conclusion These results show the increasing disease
burden of suicide in South Korea and suggest the
necessity of more in-depth research to analyse correlation
and causation with sociodemographic risk factors.