Influence on the suicide rate two years after a devastating disaster: A report from the 1995 Great Hanshin‐Awaji Earthquake

• Published in: Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 247 - 250
• Main Authors: Nishio, Akihiro, Akazawa, Kouhei, Shibuya, Futoshi, Abe, Ryo, Nushida, Hideyuki, Ueno, Yasuhiro, Nishimura, Akiyoshi, Shioiri, Toshiki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne, Australia Blackwell Publishing Asia 01.04.2009; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age Factors; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Earthquakes; Female; Humans; Japan; Kobe city; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; natural disaster; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Regression Analysis; Risk; Sex Factors; stress; Suicide; Suicide - statistics & numerical data; suicides; Young Adult; Japan; natural disaster; suicides; Earthquakes; Kobe city; Disaster; Suicide; Stress
• ISSN: 1323-1316; 1440-1819
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2009.01942.x

Aims:  The relationship between suicide and disaster is an important problem but it's not clear. We conducted this study to determine whether a natural disaster affects suicide rates. Methods:  We collected data on suicides during the 84 months before and the 60 months after the earthquake and compared the suicide rate in Kobe to that in Japan as a whole. We also examined what groups were significantly affected. Results:  Compared with Japan as a whole, the suicide rates in Kobe significantly decreased in the 2 years after the earthquake. Conclusions:  An influence on suicide rate after the disaster clearly appeared in middle‐aged men.