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Background/purpose: Few studies have compared methods of suicide used by women in different countries. This study compared methods used by women in South Korea, Taiwan, Sweden and the United States.Methods: Age- and method-specific suicide rates for women in the four countries in 2002 were calculated and compared. Hanging, firearms and jumping from a height were classified as violent suicide methods. Poisoning suicides were further classified according to use of drugs, gases, pesticides and other agents.Results: Half of Taiwanese and American women used violent methods, while only one third of women in South Korea and Sweden used such methods. Poisoning was the most often used suicide method by women in all four countries. About 90% of American and Swedish women used drugs. In contrast, almost half of women from Korea and Taiwan used pesticides.Conclusion: Different countries contrast greatly in the agents used in suicide by poisoning but not in patterns of violent methods used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Physicians may find it confusing to decide whether to report diagnoses in part I or part II of the death certificate. The aim of this study was to contrast differences in diabetes mortality through a comparison of physicians' habits in reporting diabetes in part I of death certification among Taiwan, Australia, and Sweden., Methods: A cross-sectional, intercountry comparison study. We calculated the proportion of deaths with mention of diabetes in which diabetes was reported in part I of the death certificate and the proportion of deaths with mention of diabetes in which diabetes was selected as underlying cause of death., Results: We found that half of the differences in reported diabetes mortality among Taiwan, Australia, and Sweden were due to differences in reporting deaths with mention of diabetes anywhere on the certificate, and half due to differences in proportion of deaths with mention of diabetes in which diabetes was reported in part I of the death certificate., Conclusion: Differences in the reporting of diabetes in part I of the death certificate among physicians in Taiwan, Australia, and Sweden was one of the factors that affected differing reported diabetes mortality in Taiwan, Australia, and Sweden.