title: Celebrity suicide on the railway network: Can one case trigger international effects?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  After the railway suicide of the German national goalkeeper Robert Enke in 2009, a significant increase of railway suicides was observed nationally. This study analyses whether this incident also triggered copycat effects in other European countries. Additionally, media coverage proxied by Google Trends and long-term changes taking into account general changes in suicide rates and kilometres driven by trains were examined.
  
  
  METHODS
  The numbers of railway suicides before and after Enke´s suicide were analysed for short and long-term periods (2 weeks and 2 years post-event) across five European countries. Incidence ratios and resulting percentage changes were computed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Similar to Germany, there were significant short and long-term effects for the combined data of the four other countries (increase of 93.9%; p=0.004 and 16.7%; p=0.003). There was no indication that long-term effects are a mere reflection of an overall increase in suicide frequencies or due to increased numbers of kilometres driven by trains. Analyses on country level revealed heterogeneous results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to incomplete data, analyses regarding age and gender were not performed. Media coverage was only proxied by a Google Trends analysis. The study includes a small sample of European countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Enke's suicide in 2009 was followed by increasing train suicide numbers in Europe. Although this incident may have reinforced an existing European trend of growing railway suicides, an international copycat effect and/or an increased overall awareness about this particular suicide method appears to be one likely explanation for the changes.
authors.affiliation: Depression Research Centre, German Depression Foundation, Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: nicole.koburger@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koburger
authors.affiliation: Depression Research Centre, German Depression Foundation, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mergl
authors.affiliation: Depression Research Centre, German Depression Foundation, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rummel-Kluge
authors.affiliation: Society for Mental Health - pro mente tirol, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ibelshäuser
authors.affiliation: Society for Mental Health - pro mente tirol, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Ullrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Meise
authors.affiliation: Slovene Centre for Suicide Research, Institute Andrej Marusic, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Vita
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Postuvan
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Saska
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roskar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: András
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Székely
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Mónika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ditta Tóth
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Social Sciences, Department Tranzo, University of Tilburg, Tilburg, Netherlands; Topclinical Center for Body, Mind and Health, GGz Breburg, Tilburg, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van der Feltz-Cornelis
authors.affiliation: Depression Research Centre, German Depression Foundation, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hegerl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness; D005060:Europe; D005197:Famous Persons; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D011890:Railroads; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Celebrity suicide; Copycat suicide; Google Trends; International imitation effects; Railway suicide; Werther effect