RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of age, period and cohort suicide mortality trend in Spain (1984-2018). METHODS: Mortality and population data were obtained from the National Institute of Statistics. The analysis of the effect of age, period of death and birth cohort on the evolution of suicide mortality in the period 1984-2018 was performed using a web tool for age-period-cohort analysis provided by the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics of the National Cancer Institute of the USA. RESULTS: Rates increase with age (age effect) in both sexes. The period effect shows, in males, an increase over the period 1984-1998 followed by a significant decrease until 2018. In females, rates remain stable over the period 1987-2002, decrease during 2007-2012 (p < 0.05) and eventually stabilise. In both males and females, the risk decreases in each successive birth cohort between 1904 and 1939. Subsequently, the risks increase until the birth cohort of the period 1964-1974 after which the risk decreases for males and remains stable for females. CONCLUSION: A better understanding of the effects of the birth cohort could open new doors in suicide prevention.