SUICIDE MORTALITY IN THE ARCTIC ZONE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Significance. Considering the prospects of developing the circumpolar and arctic territories of Russia and a socio-demographic significance of mortality from suicide, it seems relevant to carry out an analytical monitoring of this mortality with the aim of developing preventive measures. Purpose and objectives. To characterize death rates from suicide in the Arctic zone of Russia. Objectives included description of the dynamic trends in suicide mortality in 1993-2015, evaluation of the suicide mortality input into the total mortality from external causes, identification of seasonality and age-specific characteristics of suicide mortality, and determination of the connection between changes in death rates from suicide and alcohol consumption. Methods. Official statistics on mortality in the Arctic zone of Russia were used. The indicators were standardized by the European standard of population by a direct method. For convenient description of trends, the dynamic series were smoothed using the 4253H method, the mortality cycle analysis was carried out using an autocorrelation function and seasonal decomposition by the Census I method. The time series relationship was estimated through constructing a cross-correlation function of the residuals of the "bleaching" models by the autoregressive method of the integrated moving average. Results. The study showed that the overall dynamics in deaths from suicide in the Russian Arctic territories is consistent with the general one for the whole country, differing in a greater intensity of indicators; deaths from suicide in the Nenets and Chukotka autonomous districts contribute the maximum to the total mortality from external causes, while the infant mortality rates from suicide are regular in the Republic of Sakha and the Arkhangelsk region, otherwise, the age-specific distribution of mortality is similar to the average Russian indicators, differing in larger size of indicators. The gap in indicators is measured, in most cases, by hundreds of percent. Seasonal mortality, with the exception of the indicators of the Murmansk region and the Nenets Autonomous District (NAD), corresponds to the all-Russian trend with a maximum of indices in spring and summer and a minimum in autumn and winter. A significant correlation between death rates from suicides and alcohol consumption indicator has been established in the Chukotka Autonomous District only. Lack of communication in other territories may account for distortions and underestimation of suicide mortality rates. The obtained results allow to evaluate effectiveness of measures aimed at improving the socio-demographic situation in the Arctic zone of Russia.