Objective:

to describe sociodemographic aspects and time evolution of mortality due to suicide among elderly individuals in Bahia State, Brazil, from 1996 to 2013.

Methods:

time series descriptive and ecological study, with data from the Mortality Information System (SIM); Prais-Winsten regression was used for trend analysis and to calculate annual percent change (APC).

Results:

858 deaths due to suicide were identified in elderly in Bahia; 85.4% were men, and 53.8% were in the 60-69 age group; 64.3% of deaths resulted from hanging/strangulation, followed by self-poisoning by pesticides and chemical products (13.1%); there was an increasing trend in suicide mortality rate in the general elderly population (APC 11.0; 95%CI 6.9;15.3) and in the male sex (APC 12.1; 95%CI 7.1;17.3), whilst in the female population it remained stable.

Conclusion:

in Bahia, mortality due to suicide among elderly individuals presented an increasing trend in the period studied and was higher among males.

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