The monthly and weekly distribution of suicide

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(85)90223-0

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 21, Issue 4, 1985, Pages 433-441

https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(85)90223-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

First a review of recent studies of the monthly and weekly distribution of suicide is given. Then the results of an analysis of the mortality figures for Lower Saxony from 1968 to 1977 are presented in which age, sex and means of suicide are taken into consideration. The monthly distribution of all suicides (ICD⁸ E950-E958) shows a maximum incidence in spring and early summer and a minimum in winter, the weekly distribution a maximum on Monday and minimum at the weekend. In contrast to suicides by hanging, strangulation and suffocation (ICD⁸ E953) which follow the same pattern, the figures for suicide by poisoning with solid and fluid substances (ICD⁸ E950) show practically no heterogeneity in both, monthly and weekly distributions. The results are interpreted using Durkheim's concept of ‘anomia’, drawing an analogy between the days of the week and the months of the year.

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Cited by (97)

High temperatures trigger suicide mortality in Brussels, Belgium: A case-crossover study (2002–2011)
2022, Environmental Research
Temperature may trigger the risk of suicide, however, the extent and shape of the associations show geographical variation. Here, we investigate the short-term effects of temperature on suicide deaths occurring in Brussels between January 1st, 2002 and December 31st, 2011.
We conducted a bidirectional time-stratified case-crossover study with cases being suicide deaths occurring among Brussels residents aged 5 years or older. Cases were matched by day of the week with control days from the same month and year. The exposure was the daily average temperature measured at the Uccle station (Brussels) and obtained from the Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute. We combined conditional logistic regression with distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) to obtain one week (lag 0–6) cumulative risk ratios (RR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the effects of moderate and extreme cold (5th and 1st percentiles of temperature, respectively) and moderate and extreme heat (95th and 99th percentiles of temperature, respectively), relative to the median temperature.
In total, 1891 suicide deaths were included. The median temperature was 11.6 °C, moderate and extreme cold temperatures were 0 and -3.1 °C, respectively, and moderate and extreme high temperatures were 20.9 and 24.4 °C, respectively. The cumulative risk of suicide mortality was almost twice higher among lags 0 to 6 for both moderate and extreme heat, relative to the period median temperature (e.g. moderate heat RR = 1.80 CI:1.27–2.54). No statistically significant associations were observed for cold temperatures.
In Brussels, a western European city with temperate climate, high temperatures may trigger suicide deaths up to one week later. In the context of climate change, adaptation strategies must take into consideration the effects of temperature on mental health.
Diurnal variation in suicide timing by age and gender: Evidence from Japan across 41 years
2019, Journal of Affective Disorders
Previous research on hourly diurnal variation in suicide frequency has often suffered from geographical and time-span limitations in the data. We studied diurnal and daily variations of suicide by analyzing a large dataset based on the national death registry in Japan between 1974 and 2014.
The diurnal and daily patterns of 873,268 suicide deaths over 41 years were examined by sex and age group through Poisson regression and visual inspection. We also investigated whether these patterns are related to Japan's economic conditions.
Suicide by middle-aged males was most frequent in the early morning especially on Mondays after the end of Japan's high growth period. We also observed large midnight peaks in suicides among young and middle-aged males. The proportion of early morning suicide deaths by young and middle-aged males increased as the country's unemployment rose. Females and elderly males were more likely to die by suicide during the day than at night.
Our study examined time of death, not time of suicide attempt. It is possible that there is a discrepancy between the two.
Different subpopulations die by suicide at different times of the day and days of the week. Time patterns of suicide varied considerably over time, suggesting that they cannot be explained by biological circadian rhythm alone. Our findings suggest that the patterns are partly explained by economic conditions. Future suicide prevention efforts should consider the time patterns of suicide unique to each subpopulation, especially when economic growth is depressed.
Day of the week and the cross-section of returns
2018, Journal of Financial Economics
Long-short anomaly returns are strongly related to the day of the week. Anomalies for which the speculative leg is the short (long) leg experience the highest (lowest) returns on Monday. The opposite pattern is observed on Friday. The effects are large. Monday (Friday) alone accounts for over 100% of returns for all anomalies examined for which the short (long) leg is the speculative leg. Consistent with a mispricing explanation, the pattern is driven by the speculative leg. The observed patterns are consistent with the abundance of evidence in the psychology literature that mood increases on Friday and decreases on Monday.
Temporal distribution of suicide mortality: A systematic review
2018, Journal of Affective Disorders
Citation Excerpt :
In 84% of the studies, the information on suicide originated in official figures from institutes of statistics, health and epidemiology. Eight studies brought together information from medico-legal (Abel and Welte, 1987; Araki et al., 1986; Christodoulou et al., 2009; Gad ElHak et al., 2009; Retamal and Humphreys, 1998; Sánchez et al., 2005), judicial (Sáez Rodríguez et al., 2012) and police (Rock et al., 2003) sources, two studies did not specify clearly their data sources (Granberg and Westerberg, 1999; Massing and Angermeyer, 1985) and one drew its information from a suicide prevention project (Partonen et al., 2004b). Statistical techniques employed by the selected studies were as follows: regression was used in eighteen (harmonic in four (Bridges et al., 2005; Chen et al., 2010; Parker et al., 2001; Partonen et al., 2004a), log-linear in four (Abel and Welte, 1987; Ajdacic-Gross et al., 2006; Flisher et al., 1997; Phillips, 2014), Poisson in four (Granizo et al., 1996; Jukkala et al., 2017; La Vecchia et al., 1986; Rodrigues and Werneck, 2005), Joinpoint in three (Bando et al., 2012; Doğan and Toprak, 2015; Park et al., 2016), Fourier-Poisson in one (Bramness et al., 2015), polynomial in one (Minayo et al., 2012) and one with no further detail (Law and De Leo, 2013)); nine studies used time series analysis (TSA), in most cases applying ARIMA (Ajdacic-Gross et al., 2007, 2008a; Encrenaz et al., 2012; Mlodozeniec et al., 2010; Sánchez et al., 2005) and SARIMA (Lin et al., 2008) models, one with periodogram and Fisher test (Bando et al., 2009) and two did not specify model (Nayha, 1982; Partonen et al., 2004b); nine studies used the chi-square test (χ2) (Bridges et al., 2005; Christodoulou et al., 2009; Gad ElHak et al., 2009; Lester, 1979; Maldonado and Kraus, 1991; Massing and Angermeyer, 1985; Rihmer et al., 1998; Sáez Rodríguez et al., 2012; Sun et al., 2011); four used spectral analysis (Ajdacic-Gross et al., 2003; Chen et al., 2010; Oravecz et al., 2006; Rock et al., 2003); two used the Edwards test (Ajdacic-Gross et al., 2003; Bazas et al., 1979); two used profile analysis (F test) (Araki et al., 1986; Araki and Murata, 1987); two used variance analysis (Granberg and Westerberg, 1999; Retamal and Humphreys, 1998).
suicide is a problem with world impact and the leading cause of premature deaths. The study of its distribution over time can bring a changed understanding of parameters attributed to, and the prevention of, suicide.
to identify the temporal pattern of suicide by systematic review.
Pubmed (Medline), LILACS, Virtual Health Library (VHL), Science Direct and Scopus (Elsevier), Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) and PsyNET (APA) were searched, using suicide-related descriptors and terms, for observational epidemiological studies of the temporal distribution of suicide. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42016038470).
The lack of uniformity in reporting or standardisation of methodology in the studies selected, hindered comparison of populations with similar socioeconomic and cultural profiles, considerably limiting the scope of the results of this review.
forty-five studies from 26 different countries were included in this review. Clear seasonal patterns were observed by day of the week, month, season and age-period-cohort effects. Few studies studied by trend, time of day or day of the month.
the review findings provide further evidence of substantial temporal patterns influenced by geographic, climatic and social conditions.
The timing of general population and patient suicide in England, 1997-2012
2016, Journal of Affective Disorders
There have been conflicting findings on temporal variation in suicide risk and few have examined the phenomenon in clinical populations. The study investigated seasonal and other temporal patterns using national data.
Data on 73,591 general population and 19,318 patient suicide deaths in England between 1997 and 2012 were collected through the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide examining suicide rates in relation to month of the year, day of the week, and individual days of national or religious significance.
Suicide incidence fell over successive months of the year and there was evidence of an overall spring peak. Monday was associated with the highest suicide rates and in the patient population this effect appeared to be more pronounced in those aged over 50 or those who lived alone. Suicide risk was significantly lower during Christmas, particularly for women. There was a peak in suicide on New Year's Day in the general population. Other ‘special days’ were not associated with a change in suicide incidence.
We were limited to identifying associations between the variables investigated and were unable to explore causal mechanisms. We did not carry out comprehensive multi-variable adjustment in our regression models.
There is substantial seasonal and temporal variation in suicide deaths, and there appears to be some evidence in the clinical as well as the general population in England. Clinical services should be aware of the risk of suicide just after the weekend, especially in people who live alone, and the potential need for closer supervision during this period.
Do suicide attempts occur more frequently in the spring too? A systematic review and rhythmic analysis
2016, Journal of Affective Disorders
Seasonal variations in suicides have been reported worldwide, however, there may be a different seasonal pattern in suicide attempts. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review on seasonality of suicide attempts considering potential interfering variables, and a statistical analysis for seasonality with the collected data.
Observational epidemiological studies about seasonality in suicide attempts were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, LILACS and Cochrane Library databases with terms attempted suicide, attempt and season. Monthly or seasonal data available were evaluated by rhythmic analysis softwares.
Twenty-nine articles from 16 different countries were included in the final review. It was observed different patterns of seasonality, however, suicide attempts in spring and summer were the most frequent seasons reported. Eight studies indicated differences in sex and three in the method used for suicide attempts. Three articles did not find a seasonal pattern in suicide attempts. Cosinor analysis identified an overall pattern of seasonal variation with a suggested peak in spring, considering articles individually or grouped and independent of sex and method used. A restricted analysis with self-poisoning in hospital samples demonstrated the same profile.
Grouping diverse populations and potential analytical bias due to lack of information are the main limitations.
The identification of a seasonal profile suggests the influence of an important environmental modulator that can reverberate to suicide prevention strategies. Further studies controlling interfering variables and investigating the biological substrate for this phenomenon would be helpful to confirm our conclusion.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

The monthly and weekly distribution of suicide

Abstract

J. clin. Psychol.

Lancet

Archs gen. Psychiat.

Salud. públ. Méx

Suicidio

Le suicide

Statistique Morale de la France

Suizide und Suizidversuche

Der Einfluβ geophysikalischer Faktoren auf die Selbstmordhäufigkeit

Arch. Psychiat. Nervkrankh

Der Einfluβ des Wetters auf Suicide and Suicidversuche in einer süddeutschen Groβstadt (Augsburg)

Wetter und Leben

Jahreszeitlich bedingte Unterschiede der Selbstmordhäufigkeit bei jungen und alten Menschen

Arch. Psychiat. Nervkrankh.

Untersuchungen über jahreszeitliche Schwankungen von Suicid und Suicidversuchen

Zur Epidemiologie und Meteoropathologie des Suizidgeschehens in Kreis Wernigerodie

Z. ges. Hyg.

Daily, monthly and yearly fluctuations in total number of suicides and suicides and suicide attempts in the Western part of the Natherlands

J. interdiscipl. Cycle Res.

Study of the possible relationship between atmospheric environment, suicide and suicide attempts

Biomet. Res. Cent., Leiden Monogr. Ser.

Differences in suicidal behaviour in relation to the month of the year, the day of the week and the time of the day

Sb. lék.

Seasonal incidence of committed suicides

Bratisl. lék. Listy

Meteotrope Aktivität der Wetterlage und ihre Rolle in der Selbstmord-Epidemiologie

Zenthl. Bakt. ParasitKde

Seasonal variations in (time series of) causes of death in France from 1900 to 1972

Chronobiology

Monthly variation of suicide and undetermined death compared

Br. J. Psychiat.

A sex difference in the seasonal variation of suicide rate: a single cycle for men, two cycles for women

Br. J. Psychiat.

Seasonal variation in Irish suicidal deaths

Psychol. Rep.

Nordic suicide statistics

Short and medium-term variations in mortality in Finland

Scand. J. soc. Med.

Autumn incidence of suicides re-examined: data from Finland by sex, age and occupation

Br. J. Psychiat.

The bi-seasonal incidence of some suicides

Acta psychiat. scand.

Il suicidio nella provincia di Macerata (anni 1966–1970)

Riv. Neurobiol.