Researchers correct suicide study

Citation

(1999), "Researchers correct suicide study", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308cab.006

Researchers correct suicide study

Researchers correct suicide study

Keywords Suicide

Natural disasters probably do not increase suicide rates after all. In a letter that appeared in the 14 January 1999 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (Vol. 340 No. 2), the authors of an extensive study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe an error they made in counting the number of suicides that occurred in 377 US counties that experienced a single disaster in the USA in 1990 (see The Observer, Vol. XXII No. 5, p. 4). In that research, the authors reported an increase in suicide rates, after a disaster; however, following correction of a computer programming error, the new analysis showed no significant increase. Interestingly, the researchers reported a separate analysis of suicide rates in 70 counties affected by two disasters. They noted that "when we compared rates before the disasters with rates in the first two years after the second disaster, we found an increase of 14.8 percent. This result was obtained with the use of a different set of computer programs and was not affected by the programming error".

Despite the differing results, the researchers stick to their original conclusion that "mental health support is needed after severe disasters".

The original research article appeared in the 5 February 1998 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (Vol. 338 No. 6). The complete text of the letter can be found on the journal's Web site: http://www.nejm.org/content/l999/0340/0002/0148.asp

(Natural Hazards Observer, March 1999.)