TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA on suicide in areas surrounding the crash sites
AU - Claassen, Cynthia A.
AU - Carmody, Thomas
AU - Stewart, Sunita M.
AU - Bossarte, Robert M.
AU - Larkin, Gregory L.
AU - Woodward, Wayne A.
AU - Trivedi, Madhukar H.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/5
Y1 - 2010/5
N2 - Background: The terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001 affected suicide rates in two European countries, whereas overall US rates remained stable. The effect on attack site rates, however, has not been studied. Aims: To examine post-attack suicide rates in areas surrounding the three airline crash sites. Method; Daily mortality rates were modelled using time series techniques. Where rate change was significant, both duration and geographic scope were analysed. Results: Around the World Trade Center, post-attack 180-day rates dropped significantly (t = 2.4, P = 0.0046), whereas comparison condition rates remained stable. No change was observed for Pentagon or Flight 93 crash sites. Conclusions: The differential effect by site suggests that proximity may be less important that other event characteristics. Both temporal and geographic aspects of rate fluctuation after sentinel events appear measurable and further analyses may contribute valuable knowledge about how sociological forces affect these rates.
AB - Background: The terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001 affected suicide rates in two European countries, whereas overall US rates remained stable. The effect on attack site rates, however, has not been studied. Aims: To examine post-attack suicide rates in areas surrounding the three airline crash sites. Method; Daily mortality rates were modelled using time series techniques. Where rate change was significant, both duration and geographic scope were analysed. Results: Around the World Trade Center, post-attack 180-day rates dropped significantly (t = 2.4, P = 0.0046), whereas comparison condition rates remained stable. No change was observed for Pentagon or Flight 93 crash sites. Conclusions: The differential effect by site suggests that proximity may be less important that other event characteristics. Both temporal and geographic aspects of rate fluctuation after sentinel events appear measurable and further analyses may contribute valuable knowledge about how sociological forces affect these rates.
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U2 - 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.071928
DO - 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.071928
M3 - Article
C2 - 20435960
AN - SCOPUS:77951702706
SN - 0007-1250
VL - 196
SP - 359
EP - 364
JO - British Journal of Psychiatry
JF - British Journal of Psychiatry
IS - 5
ER -