The influence of a major disaster on suicide risk in the population.
The authors investigated the relationship between the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and suicide risk in New York City from 1990 to 2006. The average monthly suicide rate over the study period was 0.56 per 100,000 people. The monthly rate after September 2001 was 0.11 per 100,000 people lower as compared to the rate in the period before. However, the rate of change in suicide was not significantly different before and after the disaster, and regression discontinuity analysis indicated no change at this date. There was no net change in the suicide rate in New York City attributable to this disaster, suggesting that factors other than exposure to traumatic events (e.g., cultural norms, availability of lethal methods) may be key drivers of suicide risk in this context.
Mezuk
Briana
B
Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine, Richmond, VA 23298-0212, USA. bmezuk@vcu.edu
Larkin
Gregory Luke
GL
Prescott
Marta R
MR
Tracy
Melissa
M
Vlahov
David
D
Tardiff
Kenneth
K
Galea
Sandro
S
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D011159:Population Surveillance; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D047851:September 11 Terrorist Attacks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends