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This study was designed to investigate elderly suicides in term s of regional differences and risk factors at regional-level. To this end, ri sk factors that affect elderly suicide were investigated at regional-level, and characteristics of risk factors in the regions with high and low standardized mortality ra tes(SMRs) were analyzed using the number of elderly suicides from 2006 to 2010 as well as midyear population in 2008. From the cause of death data between 2006 and 2010, 18,748 elderly people at the age of 65 or above whose disease and cause of death was coded as intentional self-harm were selected for analysis ([ICD-10] codes X60-X84). Suicide rate per 100,000 persons by age, based on the mid-year population as of 2008, showed that the suicide rate per 100,000 persons incre ased with age; while the suicide rate per 100,000 persons was 144.7 persons at the overall age, it was 306.3 persons at the age of 65 to 74, 490.8 persons at the age of 75 to 84, and 649.4 persons at the age of 85 or above. This indicates notably higher suicide rate per 100,000 persons in elderly population at the age of 65 or above. As for the characteristics of those who committed suicide, the majority at the age of 65 or above was engaged in agriculture, forestry, or fishery, 40.2% were bereaved, and 71.6% were uneducated or graduated elementary school. Based on the number of suicides and mid-year population by district for 248 districts as of 2007, the SMRs ranged 0.15 to 2.4. Based on the SMRs calculated, characteristi cs of 25 regions each of higher/lower rates were examined. As for the characteri stics of elderly suicides, there were significant differences between regions wi th high and low rates in terms of occupation, marital status, and educational attainment, and place and cause of death also showed significant differences. Notably, in terms of place of death, the majority was medical institutions in 46% among the 25 regions with the highest rates. In terms of cause of death, the majority was hanging, strangulation, and suffocation in 39.4% among the 25 regions with the lowest rate regions, whereas pesticide was the most frequent cause of death in 56.2% among the 25 regions with the highest rate. For future development of polici es to prevent elderly suicide at the regional level, it is deemed necessary to establish measures to prevent elderly suicide based on these study results.
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