Ethnic Minority Suicide: a Small Area Geographical Study in South London

Coroners’ records of 329 suicides were used to obtain ethnic suicide rates in South London for 1991-1993. Geographical variation & associations of ethnic suicide rates with small area ethnic densitites & deprivation were examined with random Poisson regression. Adjusted for deprivation, age & gender, suicide rates in wards with larger minority groups were higher among Whites but lower among minority groups. Similar patterns were also apparent for Afro-Caribbeans & Asians separately. With White suicide rates as baseline, ethnic minority status is a risk factor for suicide in wards with small, but a protective factor in neighbourhoods with large minority populations. (36 refs.)