지역사회 보건·의료·돌봄 인프라가 노인자살률에 미치는 영향 : 전기 노인자살률과 후기 노인자살률 비교를 중심으로

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study aims to examine how community health, medical, and care infrastructure affect the suicide rates of young-old (65-74 years) and old-old (75 years and older). We used administrative data such as the causes of death statistics, health insurance statistics, and long-term care insurance statistics from 2010 to 2022. Descriptive statistical analysis and panel fixed effect model analysis were conducted on 229 local governments. The key findings are as follows. First, we found that the overall old adults suicide rate showed a decreasing trend. However, the suicide rate of the old-old was consistently higher than that of the young-old. Second, there were variations by year and region in the suicide rate among the young-old and old-old, and the level of health, medical, and care infrastructure. Third, the results of the panel fixed effect model analysis showed that there was a difference in the impact of the community's health, medical, and care infrastructure on the young-old and old-old suicide rates. In the case of young-old suicide rate, it was confirmed that the higher the level of medical and care infrastructure of the local government, the lower the suicide rate in the region. On the other hand, in the case of old-old suicide rate, the higher the level of health, medical, and care infrastructure of the local government, the lower the suicide rate in the region. Therefore, we found that health, medical, and care infrastructures that act as protective factors against suicide differ by age group. Based on these results, we discussed the importance of establishing and expanding health, medical, and care infrastructure to solve the old adults suicide problem. Furthermore, we suggested that a suicide prevention approach that takes into account the characteristics of each age group of the old adults is necessary.