Regional Changes in Charcoal-Burning Suicide Rates in East/Southeast Asia from 1995 to 2011: A Time Trend Analysis

English version České info

Background:
Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning resulting from burning barbecue charcoal reached epidemic levels in Hong Kong and Taiwan within 5 y of the first reported cases in the early 2000s. The objectives of this analysis were to investigate (i) time trends and regional patterns of charcoal-burning suicide throughout East/Southeast Asia during the time period 1995–2011 and (ii) whether any rises in use of this method were associated with increases in overall suicide rates. Sex- and age-specific trends over time were also examined to identify the demographic groups showing the greatest increases in charcoal-burning suicide rates across different countries.

Methods and Findings:
We used data on suicides by gases other than domestic gas for Hong Kong, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore in the years 1995/1996–2011. Similar data for Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand were also extracted but were incomplete. Graphical and joinpoint regression analyses were used to examine time trends in suicide, and negative binomial regression analysis to study sex- and age-specific patterns. In 1995/1996, charcoal-burning suicides accounted for <1% of all suicides in all study countries, except in Japan (5%), but they increased to account for 13%, 24%, 10%, 7%, and 5% of all suicides in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore, respectively, in 2011. Rises were first seen in Hong Kong after 1998 (95% CI 1997–1999), followed by Singapore in 1999 (95% CI 1998–2001), Taiwan in 2000 (95% CI 1999–2001), Japan in 2002 (95% CI 1999–2003), and the Republic of Korea in 2007 (95% CI 2006–2008). No marked increases were seen in Malaysia, the Philippines, or Thailand. There was some evidence that charcoal-burning suicides were associated with an increase in overall suicide rates in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan (for females), but not in Japan (for males), the Republic of Korea, and Singapore. Rates of change in charcoal-burning suicide rate did not differ by sex/age group in Taiwan and Hong Kong but appeared to be greatest in people aged 15–24 y in Japan and people aged 25–64 y in the Republic of Korea. The lack of specific codes for charcoal-burning suicide in the International Classification of Diseases and variations in coding practice in different countries are potential limitations of this study.

Conclusions:
Charcoal-burning suicides increased markedly in some East/Southeast Asian countries (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore) in the first decade of the 21st century, but such rises were not experienced by all countries in the region. In countries with a rise in charcoal-burning suicide rates, the timing, scale, and sex/age pattern of increases varied by country. Factors underlying these variations require further investigation, but may include differences in culture or in media portrayals of the method.

Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Vyšlo v časopise: Regional Changes in Charcoal-Burning Suicide Rates in East/Southeast Asia from 1995 to 2011: A Time Trend Analysis. PLoS Med 11(4): e32767. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001622
Kategorie: Research Article
prolekare.web.journal.doi_sk: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001622

Souhrn

Zdroje

1. LozanoR, NaghaviM, ForemanK, LimS, ShibuyaK, et al. (2012) Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 380: 2095–2128.

2. HawtonK, van HeeringenK (2009) Suicide. Lancet 373: 1372–1381.

3. GunnellD, FernandoR, HewagamaM, PriyangikaWD, KonradsenF, et al. (2007) The impact of pesticide regulations on suicide in Sri Lanka. Int J Epidemiol 36: 1235–1242.

4. ThomasK, ChangSS, GunnellD (2011) Suicide epidemics: the impact of newly emerging methods on overall suicide rates- a time trends study. BMC Public Health 11: 314.

5. YipPS, CaineE, YousufS, ChangSS, WuKC, et al. (2012) Means restriction for suicide prevention. Lancet 379: 2393–2399.

6. KreitmanN (1976) The coal gas story. United Kingdom suicide rates, 1960–71. Br J Prev Soc Med 30: 86–93.

7. ChangSS, LuTH, EddlestonM, KonradsenF, SterneJAC, et al. (2012) Factors associated with the decline in suicide by pesticide poisoning in Taiwan: a time trend analysis, 1987–2010. Clin Toxicol 50: 471–480.

8. LubinG, WerbeloffN, HalperinD, ShmushkevitchM, WeiserM, et al. (2010) Decrease in suicide rates after a change of policy reducing access to firearms in adolescents: a naturalistic epidemiological study. Suicide Life Threat Behav 40: 421–424.

9. Rodriguez AndresA, HempsteadK (2011) Gun control and suicide: the impact of state firearm regulations in the United States, 1995–2004. Health Policy 101: 95–103.

10. LiuKY, BeautraisA, CaineE, ChanK, ChaoA, et al. (2007) Charcoal burning suicides in Hong Kong and urban Taiwan: an illustration of the impact of a novel suicide method on overall regional rates. J Epidemiol Community Health 61: 248–253.

11. LinJJ, LuTH (2008) Suicide mortality trends by sex, age and method in Taiwan, 1971–2005. BMC Public Health 8: 6.

12. ChangSS, GunnellD, WheelerBW, YipP, SterneJA (2010) The evolution of the epidemic of charcoal-burning suicide in Taiwan: a spatial and temporal analysis. PLoS Med 7: e1000212.

13. XiongF, GuoY, LiuX, ChenS, CaiJ (2012) [Charcoal burning suicide occurring indoor in summer time: a case report.]. Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi 28: 310.

14. KamizatoE, YoshitomeK, YamamotoY, IwaseT, TsudaT, et al. (2009) Factors affecting the choice of suicide method in Okayama: a database analysis from a forensic perspective. Acta Med Okayama 63: 177–186.

15. HoCW, HoCY, WongF, ChoiKM, LawCC (2008) Suicide and attempted suicide in Macao: a retrospective study. Health Sci J Macao 8: 92–94.

16. Free Malaysia Today News (2013 January 2) Family in Pengerang commits suicide. Available: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/01/02/family-in-pengerang-commits-suicide/. Accessed 31 July 2013.

17. ChiaBH, ChiaA, NgWY, TaiBC (2011) Suicide methods in Singapore (2000–2004): types and associations. Suicide Life Threat Behav 41: 574–583.

18. HuhGY, JoGR, KimKH, AhnYW, LeeSY (2009) Imitative suicide by burning charcoal in the southeastern region of Korea: the influence of mass media reporting. Leg Med (Tokyo) 11: S563–S564.

19. World Health Organization (2012) WHO Mortality Database. Available: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/mortality_rawdata/en/index.html. Accessed 29 July 2013.

20. United Nations Statistics Division (2011) Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. New York: United Nations.

21. ChungWS, LeungCM (2001) Carbon monoxide poisoning as a new method of suicide in Hong Kong. Psychiatr Serv 52: 836–837.

22. ChanKP, YipPS, AuJ, LeeDT (2005) Charcoal-burning suicide in post-transition Hong Kong. Br J Psychiatry 186: 67–73.

23. Immigration and Checkpoints Authority Singapore Government (2013) Register death. Available: http://www.ica.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid=188#statistics. Accessed 22 June 2013.

24. Hendin H, Vijayakumar L, Bertolote JM, Wang H, Phillips MR, et al. (2008) Epidemiology of suicide in Asia. Geneva: World Health Organization.

25. ManiamT (1995) Suicide and undetermined violent deaths in Malaysia, 1966–1990: evidence for the misclassification of suicide statistics. Asia Pac J Public Health 8: 181–185.

26. RedanielMT, Lebanan-DalidaMA, GunnellD (2011) Suicide in the Philippines: time trend analysis (1974–2005) and literature review. BMC Public Health 11: 536.

27. ThomyangkoonP, LeenaarsAA, WassermanD (2005) Suicide in Thailand, 1977 to 2002. Arch Suicide Res 9: 361–368.

28. United Nations Population Division (2013) World population prospects, the 2012 revision [database]. Available: http://esa.un.org/wpp/ASCII-Data/DISK_NAVIGATION_ASCII.htm. Accessed 31 July 2013.

29. HitosugiM, NagaiT, TokudomeS (2009) Proposal of new ICD code for suicide by charcoal burning. J Epidemiol Community Health 63: 862–863.

30. LinJJ, ChenLH, HuangSM, LuTH (2008) Problems in estimating the number of suicides by charcoal burning in Taiwan. J Epidemiol Community Health 62: 566.

31. MoriiD, MiyagataniY, NakamaeN, MuraoM, TaniyamaK (2010) Japanese experience of hydrogen sulfide: the suicide craze in 2008. J Occup Med Toxicol 5: 28.

32. ChangSS, SterneJA, LuTH, GunnellD (2010) ‘Hidden’ suicides amongst deaths certified as undetermined intent, accident by pesticide poisoning and accident by suffocation in Taiwan. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 45: 143–152.

33. GunnellD, BennewithO, SimkinS, CooperJ, KlinebergE, et al. (2013) Time trends in coroners' use of different verdicts for possible suicides and their impact on officially reported incidence of suicide in England: 1990–2005. Psychol Med 43: 1415–1422.

34. LinsleyKR, SchapiraK, KellyTP (2001) Open verdict v. suicide—importance to research. Br J Psychiatry 178: 465–468.

35. OhbergA, LonnqvistJ (1998) Suicides hidden among undetermined deaths. Acta Psychiatr Scand 98: 214–218.

36. Ahmad O, Boschi-Pinto C, Lopez AD, Murray CJL, Lozano R, et al. (2000) Age standardization of rates: a new WHO standard. Geneva: World Health Organization.

37. OliverSE, MayMT, GunnellD (2001) International trends in prostate-cancer mortality in the “PSA ERA”. Int J Cancer 92: 893–898.

38. VichiM, MasoccoM, PompiliM, LesterD, TatarelliR, et al. (2010) Suicide mortality in Italy from 1980 to 2002. Psychiatry Res 175: 89–97.

39. ChangSS, GunnellD, SterneJAC, LuTH, ChengATA (2009) Was the economic crisis 1997–1998 responsible for rising suicide rates in East/Southeast Asia? A time-trend analysis for Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Soc Sci Med 68: 1322–1331.

40. TamosiunasA, ReklaitieneR, VirviciuteD, SopagieneD (2006) Trends in suicide in a Lithuanian urban population over the period 1984–2003. BMC Public Health 6: 184.

41. StarkC, StocktonD, HendersonR (2008) Reduction in young male suicide in Scotland. BMC Public Health 8: 80.

42. GagneM, RobitailleY, HamelD, St-LaurentD (2010) Firearms regulation and declining rates of male suicide in Quebec. Inj Prev 16: 247–253.

43. BandoDH, BrunoniAR, BensenorIM, LotufoPA (2012) Suicide rates and income in Sao Paulo and Brazil: a temporal and spatial epidemiologic analysis from 1996 to 2008. BMC Psychiatry 12: 127.

44. ReselandS, BrayI, GunnellD (2006) Relationship between antidepressant sales and secular trends in suicide rates in the Nordic countries. Br J Psych 88: 354–358.

45. US National Cancer Institute Surveillance Research Program Statistical Methodology and Applications Branch and Data Modeling Branch (2013) Joinpoint Regression Program, version 4.0.4 [computer program]. Available: http://surveillance.cancer.gov/joinpoint/. Accessed 24 February 2014.

46. LermanPM (1980) Fitting segmented regression models by grid search. J R Stat Soc Ser C Appl Stat 29: 77–84.

47. KimHJ, FayMP, FeuerEJ, MidthuneDN (2000) Permutation tests for joinpoint regression with applications to cancer rates. Stat Med 19: 335–351.

48. ChangSS, PageA, GunnellD (2011) Internet searches for a specific suicide method follow its high-profile media coverage. Am J Psychiatry 168: 855–857.

49. Law CK, Yip SFP (2008) Suicide in Hong Kong. In: Yip SFP, editor. Suicide in Asia: causes and prevention. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 49–60.

50. Chia B-H, Chia A (2008) Suicide in Singapore. In: Yip SFP, editor. Suicide in Asia: causes and prevention. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 101–120.

51. ChenYY, ChenF, GunnellD, YipPS (2013) The impact of media reporting on the emergence of charcoal burning suicide in Taiwan. PLoS ONE 8: e55000.

52. LeeDT, ChanKP, YipPS (2005) Charcoal burning is also popular for suicide pacts made on the internet. BMJ 330: 602.

53. Ozawa-De SilvaC (2010) Shared death: self, sociality and internet group suicide in Japan. Transcult Psychiatry 47: 392–418.

54. FuKW, ChanCH (2013) A study of the impact of thirteen celebrity suicides on subsequent suicide rates in South Korea from 2005 to 2009. PLoS ONE 8: e53870.

55. LongSO (2001) Negotiating the “good death”: Japanese ambivalence about new ways to die. Ethnology 4: 271–289.

56. KamijoY (2006) [Why should we discuss CO poisoning now?]. Chudoku Kenkyu 19: 11–12.

57. Wikipedia Japan (2013) [Rentan.] Available: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B7%B4%E7%82%AD. Accessed 22 June 2013.

58. Wikipedia (2013) Yeontan. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeontan. Accessed 22 June 2013.

59. Korea Energy Statistics Institute (2012) Yearbook of energy statistics. Gyeonggi-do (Republic of Korea): Korea Energy Statistics Institute.

60. ChangSS, SterneJA, HuangWC, ChuangHL, GunnellD (2010) Association of secular trends in unemployment with suicide in Taiwan, 1959–2007: a time-series analysis. Public Health 124: 49–54.

61. ChenYY, YipPS, LeeC, FanHF, FuKW (2010) Economic fluctuations and suicide: a comparison of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Soc Sci Med 71: 2083–2090.

62. HitosugiM (2005) Rapid response: trend in suicide pacts made via the Internet in Japan. BMJ 330: 602.3 Available: http://www.bmj.com/content/330/7491/602.3?tab=responses. Accessed 27 February 2014.

63. HagiharaA, MiyazakiS, AbeT (2012) Internet suicide searches and the incidence of suicide in young people in Japan. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 262: 39–46.

64. FlorentineJB, CraneC (2010) Suicide prevention by limiting access to methods: a review of theory and practice. Soc Sci Med 70: 1626–1632.

65. ChenYY, BennewithO, HawtonK, SimkinS, CooperJ, et al. (2013) Suicide by burning barbecue charcoal in England. J Public Health (Oxf) 35: 223–227.

66. YipPS, LawCK, FuKW, LawYW, WongPW, et al. (2010) Restricting the means of suicide by charcoal burning. Br J Psychiatry 196: 241–242.

67. WongPW, LiuPM, ChanWS, LawYW, LawSC, et al. (2009) An integrative suicide prevention program for visitor charcoal burning suicide and suicide pact. Suicide Life Threat Behav 39: 82–90.

68. YipPS, LeeDTS (2007) Charcoal-burning suicides and strategies for prevention. Crisis 28 (Suppl 1) 21–27.