Characteristics of completed suicides after Greek financial crisis onset: A comparative time-series analysis study

AbstractSevere financial crises could influence a country ’s suicide trends and characteristics. We aimed to highlight differences among suicide completers before and after the onset of Greece’s serious debt crisis of 2010 based exclusively on forensic data. The sample’s size permitted a further elaboration by means of a time series analysis too. Dat a were collected from the Piraeus Department of Forensic Medicine for the period 1992–2016. We extracted information on sociodemographic parameters, psychiatric medication and alcohol intake, suicide method, place and month of suicide. The “after crisis onset” group (2011–2016) was significa ntly older (p = 0.039)—primarily due to differences in the 55–64 age group—, had more frequently used psychiatric medications (p <  0.001), less often alcohol (p = 0.001) and died more frequently by immolation (p = 0.001). These differences were—almost exclusively—due to changes regarding male suicidal behavior. Time series analysis indicates that no strong increasing trend in total (male + female) suicide count can be observed, despite a local increase in 2009–2010. Antidepressant-positive su icides show an increase after 2010, whereas alcohol-positive suicides show a decrease. Future predicted forecasts for antidepressant-positive suicides indicate a decrease (from 5.6 per year in 2018 to 4.3 per year in 2025) whereas an increase is predicted in alcohol-positive suicides (7.7 per year i n 201...
Source: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research