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Suicides by persons reported as missing prior to death: a retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT: A first study to compare suicides by missing persons with other suicide cases.Retrospective cohort study for the period 1994-2007. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: Queensland, Australia.194 suicides by missing persons and 7545 other suicides were identified through the Queensland Suicide Register and the National Coroners Information System.?(2) statistics and binary logistic regression were used to identify distinct characteristics of suicides by missing persons.Compared with other suicide cases, missing persons significantly more often died by motor vehicle exhaust gas toxicity (23.7% vs 16.4%; ?(2)=7.32, p<0.01), jumping from height (6.7% vs 3.2%; ?(2)=7.08, p<0.01) or drowning (8.2% vs 1.8%; ?(2)=39.53, p<0.01), but less frequently by hanging (29.4% vs 39.9%; ?(2)=8.82, p<0.01). They were most frequently located in natural outdoors locations (58.2% vs 11.1%; ?(2)=388.25, p<0.01). Persons gone missing were less likely to have lived alone at time of death (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.76), yet more likely to be institutionalised (OR 3.12, 95% CI 1.28 to 7.64). They were less likely to have been physically ill (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.95) or have a history of problematic consumptions of alcohol (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.87). In comparison to other suicide cases, missing persons more often communicated their suicidal intent prior to death (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.22).Suicides by missing persons show several distinct characteristics in comparisons to other suicides. The findings have implications for development of suicide prevention strategies focusing on early identification and interventions targeting this group. In particular, it may offer assistance to police in designing risk assessment procedures and subsequent investigations of missing persons.

SUBMITTER: Sveticic J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3323803 | biostudies-other | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Suicides by persons reported as missing prior to death: a retrospective cohort study.

Sveticic Jerneja J Too Lay San LS De Leo Diego D

BMJ open 20120326 2

<h4>Objective</h4>A first study to compare suicides by missing persons with other suicide cases.<h4>Design</h4>Retrospective cohort study for the period 1994-2007. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: Queensland, Australia.<h4>Population</h4>194 suicides by missing persons and 7545 other suicides were identified through the Queensland Suicide Register and the National Coroners Information System.<h4>Main outcome measure</h4>χ(2) statistics and binary logistic regression were used to identify distinct chara ...[more]

PMID: 22454187

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Project description:BackgroundIdentifying the medical conditions that are associated with poor health is crucial to prioritize decisions for future research and organizing care. However, assessing the burden of disease in the general population is complex, lengthy, and expensive. Claims databases that include self-reported health status can be used to assess the impact of medical conditions on the health in a population.ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify medical conditions that are highly predictive of poor health status using claims databases.MethodsTo determine the medical conditions most highly predictive of poor health status, we used a retrospective cohort study using 2 US claims databases. Subjects were commercially insured patients. Health status was measured using a self-report health status response. All medical conditions were included in a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model to assess which conditions were associated with poor versus excellent health.ResultsA total of 1,186,871 subjects were included; 61.64% (731,587/1,186,871) reported having excellent or very good health. The leading medical conditions associated with poor health were cancer-related conditions, demyelinating disorders, diabetes, diabetic complications, psychiatric illnesses (mood disorders and schizophrenia), sleep disorders, seizures, male reproductive tract infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiomyopathy, dementia, and headaches.ConclusionsUnderstanding the impact of disease in a commercially insured population is critical to identify subjects who may be at risk for reduced productivity and job loss. Claims database studies can measure the impact of medical conditions on the health status in a population and to assess changes overtime and could limit the need to collect prospective collection of information, which is slow and expensive, to assess disease burden. Leading medical conditions associated with poor health in a commercially insured population were the ones associated with high burden of disease such as cancer-related conditions, demyelinating disorders, diabetes, diabetic complications, psychiatric illnesses (mood disorders and schizophrenia), infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiomyopathy, and dementia. However, sleep disorders, seizures, male reproductive tract infections, and headaches were also part of the leading medical conditions associated with poor health that had not been identified before as being associated with poor health and deserve more attention.

Project description:Prior studies of risk factors associated with external causes of death have been limited in the number of covariates investigated and external causes examined. Herein, associations between numerous demographic, lifestyle, and health-related factors and the major causes of external mortality, such as suicide, homicide, and accident, were assessed prospectively among 73,422 black and white participants in the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS). Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated in multivariate regression analyses using the Cox proportional hazards model. Men compared with women (HR = 2.32; 95% CI: 1.87-2.89), current smokers (HR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.40-2.17), and unemployed/never employed participants at the time of enrollment (HR = 1.67; 95% CI 1.38-2.02) had increased risk of dying from all external causes, with similarly elevated HRs for suicide, homicide, and accidental death among both blacks and whites. Blacks compared with whites had lower risk of accidental death (HR = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.38-0.57) and suicide (HR = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.31-0.99). Blacks and whites in the SCCS had comparable risks of homicide death (HR = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.63-1.76); however, whites in the SCCS had unusually high homicide rates compared with all whites who were resident in the 12 SCCS states, while black SCCS participants had homicide rates similar to those of all blacks residing in the SCCS states. Depression was the strongest risk factor for suicide, while being married was protective against death from homicide in both races. Being overweight/obese at enrollment was associated with reduced risks in all external causes of death, and the number of comorbid conditions was a risk factor for iatrogenic deaths. Most risk factors identified in earlier studies of external causes of death were confirmed in the SCCS cohort, in spite of the low SES of SCCS participants. Results from other epidemiologic cohorts are needed to confirm the novel findings identified in this study.

Project description:OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a short interval between pregnancies is an independent risk factor for adverse obstetric outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Scotland. SUBJECTS: 89 143 women having second births in 1992-8 who conceived within five years of their first birth. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Intrauterine growth restriction (birth weight less than the 5th centile for gestational age), extremely preterm birth (24-32 weeks), moderately preterm birth (33-36 weeks), and perinatal death. RESULTS: Women whose subsequent interpregnancy interval was less than six months were more likely than other women to have had a first birth complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (odds ratio 1.3, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 1.5), extremely preterm birth (4.1, 3.2 to 5.3), moderately preterm birth (1.5, 1.3 to 1.7), or perinatal death (24.4, 18.9 to 31.5). They were also shorter, less likely to be married, and more likely to be aged less than 20 years at the time of the second birth, to smoke, and to live in an area of high socioeconomic deprivation. When the outcome of the second birth was analysed in relation to the preceding interpregnancy interval and the analysis confined to women whose first birth was a term live birth (n = 69 055), no significant association occurred (adjusted for age, marital status, height, socioeconomic deprivation, smoking, previous birth weight vigesimal, and previous caesarean delivery) between interpregnancy interval and intrauterine growth restriction or stillbirth. However, a short interpregnancy interval (< 6 months) was an independent risk factor for extremely preterm birth (adjusted odds ratio 2.2, 1.3 to 3.6), moderately preterm birth (1.6, 1.3 to 2.0), and neonatal death unrelated to congenital abnormality (3.6, 1.2 to 10.7). The adjusted attributable fractions for these associations were 6.1%, 3.9%, and 13.8%. The associations were very similar when the analysis was confined to married non-smokers aged 25 and above. CONCLUSIONS: A short interpregnancy interval is an independent risk factor for preterm delivery and neonatal death in the second birth.

Dataset Information

Suicides by persons reported as missing prior to death: a retrospective cohort study.

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Suicides by persons reported as missing prior to death: a retrospective cohort study.

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