A Reassessment of Suicide Measurement: Some Comparative PYLL-Based Trends in Queensland, Australia, 1920-2005

This paper applies 2 different methods of measuring suicide data: the conventional age-standardized suicide (count) rate & the alternative rate, potential years of life lost. Both measures were applied to suicide data for Queensland, Australia since 1920. The measures were also applied to deaths due to circulatory diseases, cancers, & motor vehicle accidents. The two measures generated quite different pictures. Using the potential years of life lost measure, suicide is a quantitatively larger issue than is indicated by the count measure. It is concluded the potential years of life lost measure is more appropriate for evaluation exercises of public health prevention strategies. (30 refs.)