Citation

Yip PS, Chao A, Chiu CW. Br. J. Psychiatry 2000; 177: 366-369.

Affiliation

Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.

Comment In:

Br J Psychiatry 2001;178:380.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Royal College of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11116780

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Seasonal variation in suicidal death has been observed in many countries. In particular, a cyclic variation was found for both men and women in England and Wales in the 1960s and 1970s. Men showed a single 12-month cycle whereas women showed two cycles. AIMS: To re-examine the seasonal variation in suicides in England and Wales for the period 1982-1996. METHOD: A harmonic analysis was used to detect the seasonality of the suicide data. RESULTS: The seasonal effect on suicide is greatly diminished in England and Wales. This is shown by the reduced amplitude and smaller proportion of variance accounted for by the season. CONCLUSIONS: The seasonal effect on suicide has either diminished or vanished.

Language: en