title: Estimation of reporting delay and suicide incidence in Hong Kong.
abstract: This paper uses a semi-parametric method to examine the reporting delay distribution in suicides in Hong Kong reporting system. The data arise from a rightly truncated situation in which only suicide cases registered before a specific time are known to have occurred; otherwise they are not recorded in the known death files even if they have occurred. It is shown that the poisoning-related suicide deaths have a longer reporting delay than other suicide methods. By modelling the reporting delay function, a Horvitz-Thompson-type estimator is suggested to adjust for reporting delay and to provide a more timely estimate of the suicide incidences for monitoring the suicide problem in Hong Kong. Based on these analyses, we recommended a suitable cut-off date to collect suicide cases occurring in the previous year and reported before this date in Hong Kong.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia. j.cui@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Jisheng S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Paul S F
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Yip
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Chau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*