Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in Germany
Background Although immigrants are considered to be vulnerable to mental illness, there is limited knowledge regarding their suicide mortality. Aims To investigate standardised mortality ratios (SMR) for suicide among the largest immigrant populations in Germany before and after the refugee movemen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2024-11-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424007555/type/journal_article |
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| author | Nensy Thu Ha Le Jon Genuneit Gerald Brennecke Georg von Polier Lars White Daniel Radeloff |
| author_facet | Nensy Thu Ha Le Jon Genuneit Gerald Brennecke Georg von Polier Lars White Daniel Radeloff |
| author_sort | Nensy Thu Ha Le |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
Although immigrants are considered to be vulnerable to mental illness, there is limited knowledge regarding their suicide mortality.
Aims
To investigate standardised mortality ratios (SMR) for suicide among the largest immigrant populations in Germany before and after the refugee movement of 2015.
Method
Data on immigrants and the general population in Germany between 2000 and 2020 were provided by the scientific section of the Federal Statistical Office. SMR with 95% confidence intervals were calculated by indirect standardisation for gender, age and calendar year for the pre-2015 and post-2015 time interval, first for all the immigrant populations studied and second for the Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi populations separately.
Results
Immigrants from the countries studied showed a lower suicide risk compared with the German reference population (SMR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.35–0.41). No differences in SMR were found between pre- and post-2015 time intervals, in either the aggregate data for all populations or the data for Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi populations. Post-2015, Afghan immigrants (SMR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.54–0.83) showed a higher SMR than Syrians (SMR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.25–0.36) or Iraqis (SMR = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.26–0.48).
Conclusions
Despite the many and varied stresses associated with flight, comparison of the pre- and post-2015 time intervals showed that the suicide risk of the populations studied did not change and was considerably lower than that of the German reference population. We attribute this to lower suicide rates in the countries of origin but also to flight-related selection processes that favour more resilient individuals.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3ebdcb99a3c447c297618ca2e051d58a |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2056-4724 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJPsych Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-3ebdcb99a3c447c297618ca2e051d58a2025-08-20T02:11:11ZengCambridge University PressBJPsych Open2056-47242024-11-011010.1192/bjo.2024.755Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in GermanyNensy Thu Ha Le0Jon Genuneit1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5764-1528Gerald Brennecke2Georg von Polier3Lars White4Daniel Radeloff5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8430-8306Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyPaediatric Epidemiology, Department of Paediatrics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany; and Institute of Legal Medicine, University Medicine Halle (Saale), Halle (Saale), GermanyDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyBackground Although immigrants are considered to be vulnerable to mental illness, there is limited knowledge regarding their suicide mortality. Aims To investigate standardised mortality ratios (SMR) for suicide among the largest immigrant populations in Germany before and after the refugee movement of 2015. Method Data on immigrants and the general population in Germany between 2000 and 2020 were provided by the scientific section of the Federal Statistical Office. SMR with 95% confidence intervals were calculated by indirect standardisation for gender, age and calendar year for the pre-2015 and post-2015 time interval, first for all the immigrant populations studied and second for the Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi populations separately. Results Immigrants from the countries studied showed a lower suicide risk compared with the German reference population (SMR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.35–0.41). No differences in SMR were found between pre- and post-2015 time intervals, in either the aggregate data for all populations or the data for Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi populations. Post-2015, Afghan immigrants (SMR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.54–0.83) showed a higher SMR than Syrians (SMR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.25–0.36) or Iraqis (SMR = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.26–0.48). Conclusions Despite the many and varied stresses associated with flight, comparison of the pre- and post-2015 time intervals showed that the suicide risk of the populations studied did not change and was considerably lower than that of the German reference population. We attribute this to lower suicide rates in the countries of origin but also to flight-related selection processes that favour more resilient individuals. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424007555/type/journal_articleSuicideimmigrationflightArabellion and Arab SpringGermany |
| spellingShingle | Nensy Thu Ha Le Jon Genuneit Gerald Brennecke Georg von Polier Lars White Daniel Radeloff Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in Germany BJPsych Open Suicide immigration flight Arabellion and Arab Spring Germany |
| title | Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in Germany |
| title_full | Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in Germany |
| title_fullStr | Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in Germany |
| title_full_unstemmed | Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in Germany |
| title_short | Suicide among post-Arabellion refugees in Germany |
| title_sort | suicide among post arabellion refugees in germany |
| topic | Suicide immigration flight Arabellion and Arab Spring Germany |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424007555/type/journal_article |
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