Fiocruz points to an increase in suicide among young indigenous people in Amazonas

suicide

Study was published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Americas

Researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and Harvard University carried out the first national study that evaluates suicide among indigenous and non-indigenous people in Brazil. The study evaluated suicide rates during the period from 2000 to 2020 and showed a disproportionately higher risk in indigenous people, especially those between 10 and 24 years of age. The North and Central-West regions were those with the highest risk of suicide, mainly in the states of Amazonas and Mato Grosso do Sul.

The study was published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. The research addresses nuances about this serious and neglected public health problem in the middle of Yellow September, the month dedicated to suicide prevention in Brazil, as highlighted by one of the study’s co-authors, epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, head of the Laboratory of Modeling in Statistics, Geoprocessing and Epidemiology at the Leônidas & Maria Deane Institute (ILMD/Fiocruz Amazônia).

The analyzes were carried out using the Ministry of Health’s official mortality database and aimed to estimate suicide rates and their trends among indigenous and non-indigenous people in Brazil. In the article entitled Suicide among indigenous peoples in Brazil from 2000 to 2020: a descriptive study (Suicide among Indigenous peoples in Brazil from 2000 to 2020: a descriptive studyin the original in English), the researchers analyzed the behavior of suicide rates among indigenous people in Brazil.

According to the researcher, in general, suicide rates among indigenous people were higher in men and individuals between 10 and 24 years of age.

“In men from regions such as the Central-West and North, these rates reached 73.75 and 52.05 per 100 thousand inhabitants, in 2018 and 2017, respectively. In individuals aged 10-24 years in the North Region, the age group most at risk for indigenous suicide, these rates increased substantially from 2013 onwards, contrary to the pattern of decline observed in the Central-West region. This is an important difference, compared to the highest risk group in the general population of Brazil, as the age group of individuals aged 60 and over, historically, is the one with the highest risk of suicide”,

explains in a note, Orellana.

The study also showed that, at a national level, both the suicide rates of the Brazilian indigenous population and the rates of the non-indigenous population showed an increasing trend from 2000 to 2020.

“However, this pattern cannot be generalized, especially among indigenous people, as states such as Amazonas, in the North region, and Mato Grosso do Sul, in the Central-West region, seem to be responsible for the substantial differences observed across the if comparing national data between indigenous and non-indigenous people”,

observe.

The researcher highlights that the results of the study reinforce the extreme vulnerability of indigenous people to suicide in Brazil, especially men, aged between 10 and 24 years and residing in the states of Amazonas and Mato Grosso do Sul, pointing to the need for prioritization in allocation of financial resources and planning strategies aimed at reducing risk factors associated with suicide, especially social inequality and limited access to mental health care.

“We need to view indigenous suicide as a serious and invisible public health problem, which can be influenced by a range of contextual and cultural peculiarities, such as territorial conflicts, health crises, structural racism, as well as economic, political and psychological issues. ”,

alert, Orellana.

*With information from Agência Brasil

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