Date of Award

1-1-2012

Document Type

Campus Access Thesis

Department

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Sub-Department

Epidemiology

First Advisor

Melinda F Carney

Abstract

Suicide is a major public health concern in United States. Nearly 34,000 died by suicide in 2007 alone, and it was the 11th leading cause of death for that year. In addition, self-directed violent behavior consumes several economic, social, and health care resources. Such deaths and resource utilization are largely preventable with appropriate interventions. Numerous research studies in the past have described the association of suicide with its risk factors. Suicidal behavior was found to be different across gender, race, age group, and mechanism. Few studies have analyzed the seasonal variation in suicides. Despite extensive research, inferences on suicide seasonality are weak. The suicide seasonality in South Carolina has been described in our study. Suicides in our sample were found to exhibit seasonal variation. Although the seasonality was different across gender, race, and age group, it was not significant. Suicide mechanism had a significant relationship with suicide seasonality. Suicides by violent mechanisms were significantly different from the non-violent suicides in terms of seasonal variation.

Rights

© 2012, Murali Krishna Gangadaram

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