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Prevalence of Suicide Attempts among College Students in China: A Meta-Analysis

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  • Lin-Sheng Yang
  • Zhi-Hua Zhang
  • Liang Sun
  • Ye-Huan Sun
  • Dong-Qing Ye

Abstract

Background: Suicide is the leading cause of death among 15–34 year olds in China, but no national data are available on the suicide and suicide attempts rates of college students, a sub-group of youth with 23 million. Several studies have reported the prevalence of suicide attempts among college students, however, no meta-analysis pooling the prevalence of suicide attempts is found. Objective and Methods: This study aims to estimate the pooled prevalence of suicide attempts among college students in China. The relevant studies up to August 2014 were systematically searched via electronic databases (PubMed-Medline, Embase, Chinese Wanfang database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and Chinese VIP database). We only selected original articles that either reported the prevalence of suicide attempts or sufficient data for calculating the prevalence. Results: A total of 29 eligible studies, with 88,225 college students, were finally included. The maximum and minimum reported prevalences of suicide attempts among college students in China were 0.4% and 10.5%, respectively. The pooled prevalence of suicide attempts was 2.8% (95%CI: 2.3%–3.3%). Subgroup analyses showed that the pooled estimate of prevalence of life time suicide attempts was 2.7% (95%CI: 2.1%–3.3%), and 12-month suicide attempts was 2.9% (95%CI: 2.0%–3.8%). The prevalence for males was 2.4% (95%CI: 1.8%–3.0%), and for females was 2.7% (95%CI: 1.9%–3.7%). The prevalences among college students in grade 1 through 4 were 2.8% (95%CI: 1.7%–3.8%), 1.8% (95%CI: 1.2%–2.3%), 2.0% (95%CI: 0.8%–3.1%), and 2.9% (95%CI: 0.1%–6.7%), respectively. The prevalences among college students from rural and urban areas were 5.1% (95%CI: 2.8%–7.5%) and 3.7% (95%CI: 1.4%–5.9%), respectively. Conclusions: 2.8% prevalence of suicide attempts and more than 600,000 suicide attempters among college students indicate that suicide attempt among college students is an important public health problem in China. More attention should be paid to the current situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Lin-Sheng Yang & Zhi-Hua Zhang & Liang Sun & Ye-Huan Sun & Dong-Qing Ye, 2015. "Prevalence of Suicide Attempts among College Students in China: A Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0116303
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116303
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    Cited by:

    1. Tasnim, Rafia & Islam, Md. Saiful & Sujan, Md. Safaet Hossain & Sikder, Md. Tajuddin & Potenza, Marc N., 2020. "Suicidal ideation among Bangladeshi university students early during the COVID-19 pandemic: Prevalence estimates and correlates," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Emilijus Žilinskas & Giedrė Žulpaitė & Kristijonas Puteikis & Rima Viliūnienė, 2021. "Mental Health among Higher Education Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey from Lithuania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Xuan Ning & Josephine Pui-Hing Wong & Silang Huang & Yina Fu & Xiaojie Gong & Lizeng Zhang & Carla Hilario & Kenneth Po-Lun Fung & Miao Yu & Maurice Kwong-Lai Poon & Shengli Cheng & Jianguo Gao & Cun-, 2022. "Chinese University Students’ Perspectives on Help-Seeking and Mental Health Counseling," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Shunyan Lyu & Yu Li, 2023. "The Roles of Endorsement and Stigma in Suicidal Ideation and Behavior among Chinese College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, January.

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