Suicide sex ratios after the inception of charcoal-burning suicide in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Suicide rates in males are generally higher than in females in most parts of the world. However, this gender gap is narrower in some Asian countries, where suicide among females seems to be more culturally acceptable. Other factors such as the availability of lethal method of suicide, lower women’s status, and inadequate treatment of mental illness are other possible explanations for the narrower gender gap in Asian countries. Recently, burning barbecue charcoal in a closed space has become a dominant suicide method in Taiwan and Hong Kong; the method has changed the pattern of suicide rates in these two places in the last decade. The aim of the current study was to explore the impact of charcoal-burning suicide on patterns of the suicide sex ratio in Taiwan and Hong Kong.