Seasonality of Suicides among Victims Who Are under the Influence of Alcohol

Lasota, Dorota; Pawłowski, Witold; Krajewski, Paweł; Staniszewska, Anna; Goniewicz, Krzysztof; Goniewicz, Mariusz

doi:10.3390/ijerph16152806

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…They show that the peak of suicides can be observed in the spring months, although some analyses indicate that the peak can also be observed in autumn [55]. The seasonality phenomenon also applies to suicide attempts [56]. Research conducted by Lasota et al also confirmed the existence of the phenomenon of the seasonality of suicides among victims of suicides under the influence of alcohol.…”

Section: Ethanol Effects On Auto-aggression Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 94%

Ethanol as a stimulus to risky and auto-aggressive behaviour

Lasota¹,

Pawłowski²,

Mirowska‐Guzel³

et al. 2021

Ann Agric Environ Med.

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ethyl alcohol occupies the third place among health risks for the general population, causing damage to health as well as social damage. Ethanol is also considered the greatest risk factor in injuries. Both alcohol and its main metabolite, acetaldehyde, are directly toxic to tissues and lead to several systemic pathologies. Alcohol abuse may also lead to mental health disorders. Although one-in-eight adult Poles abstains from drinking alkohol, 10-20% of adult Poles drink alcohol regularly. It is estimated that this group includes about 900,000 addicts, and over 2,000,000 people who drink alcohol at a risky or harmful level. It affects their occurrence and their consequences Drinkdriving is one of the problems most often raised, although alcohol is a documented risk factor in pedestrian accidents. It is also an important risk factor for suicidal behaviour with people under the influence of alcohol choosing more radical and effective methods of committing suicide, such as hanging or 'throwing themselves under a moving vehicle.' Only properly selected and consistently taken preventive actions can improve the tragic statistics related to ethanol stimulating risky and auto-aggressive behaviours. It is also necessary to improve the system for reporting such events because only reliable statistics enable proper assessment of the scale of the problem, and the effectiveness of these activities.

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Section: Ethanol Effects On Auto-aggression Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 94%

Ethanol as a stimulus to risky and auto-aggressive behaviour

Lasota¹,

Pawłowski²,

Mirowska‐Guzel³

et al. 2021

Ann Agric Environ Med.

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“…In Poland, the most common method of suicide is hanging, mainly among men, while women most often try to take large amounts of drugs [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Additionally, in the presented analysis, hanging was the leading method of suicide.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Suicide Methods and Substances Influencing the State of Consciousness of Their Victims in Poland

Lasota

Mirowska‐Guzel

Goniewicz³

2021

IJERPH

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An integral part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) mental health action plan for 2013–2020 is suicide prevention, and a 10% reduction in the suicide rate. A key element of the preventive measures taken is, among other things, limiting access to means enabling and facilitating committing suicide. However, this requires detailed knowledge of community suicide patterns and preferences. Unfortunately, such information is not usually collected, and the recorded method of committing suicide is often imprecise and untrue, which means that such knowledge has limited application in presuicidal prophylaxis. The statistical data on suicides recorded as part of the Police Statistics in Poland during the years 2009–2019 was analyzed. The analysis included suicide deaths and suicide attempts, taking into account the suicide methods and substances influencing the state of consciousness of their victims. The number of suicides in Poland in the analyzed period tended to increase. The most common method of suicide was hanging, and alcohol was the substance influencing the state of consciousness of suicide victims. The statistics for 2017–2019 showed the presence of new methods of suicide, such as taking drugs other than hypnotics, intoxication with narcotic drugs, poisoning with designer drugs, suffocation and self-immolation, as well as new psychoactive substances affecting the state of consciousness of victims, i.e., drugs and narcotic drugs. The effectiveness of actions taken in Poland in the field of suicide prevention does not bring the desired effects, as evidenced by growing number of suicides. This low effectiveness is mainly due to the lack of a national suicide prevention strategy. The effectiveness of these activities may be improved by creating a uniform database of suicides, which is a source of reliable information which will allow the taking of actions aimed at limiting the availability of means enabling and facilitating the committing of suicide. The study aimed to analyze the types of suicide methods and substances influencing the state of consciousness of their victims in Poland in the years covered by the study.

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“…Numerous studies have examined the seasonal variability phenomenon of suicides. The peak for suicides can be observed in the spring months, although some analyses indicate that a peak can also be observed in autumn [ 45 , 46 ]. In the period covered by the RESTRAIL project, the highest number of railway suicides was recorded in April and the lowest in December.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol and the Risk of Railway Suicide

Lasota

Al-Wathinani

Krajewski

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Suicide is one of the ten most common causes of death in the world. Of all deaths from suicide, 22% can be attributed to the use of alcohol, which means that every fifth suicide would not occur if alcohol were not consumed by the population. People under the influence of alcohol choose more radical and effective methods of dying by suicide, e.g., throwing themselves under a moving vehicle, such as a train. The presented analysis aimed to determine important risk factors affecting railway suicide in Poland and their relation to the state of alcohol intoxication of the victims, and the relationship between ethyl alcohol consumption and the phenomenon of suicide. Documentation obtained from the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw, in the form of death registers and forensic medical records concerning examination and autopsy, was analyzed. This made it possible to identify suicide victims from among pedestrian victims of railway accidents recorded during the period under study. The research was carried out using unidimensional and multidimensional statistical analyses with IBM SPSS Statistics, version 25. Sober suicide victims were statistically significantly older than victims under the influence of alcohol; alcohol concentration was correlated with the age of the victims—the older the victims were, the higher the alcohol concentration. A significantly higher number of deaths attributed to suicide by sober victims was observed in autumn compared to other seasons. Multidimensional analysis showed a statistically significant effect of age and season on the probability of dying by suicide under the influence of alcohol—this probability decreases with the age of the victims and is also significantly lower in autumn. The observed relationship between age and the presence of alcohol in suicide victims can be the cause of railway suicides. Knowledge of the mechanisms of seasonal variability of suicidal behavior can help to develop effective strategies to prevent railway suicides. It is necessary to improve the system of reporting railway suicides, as only reliable statistics provide the possibility of assessing both the scale of the problem and the effectiveness of actions taken.

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Seasonality of Suicides among Victims Who Are under the Influence of Alcohol

Cited by 13 publications

References 40 publications

Ethanol as a stimulus to risky and auto-aggressive behaviour

Ethanol as a stimulus to risky and auto-aggressive behaviour

Analysis of Suicide Methods and Substances Influencing the State of Consciousness of Their Victims in Poland

Alcohol and the Risk of Railway Suicide

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