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  • Suicides by persons reported as missing prior to death: a retrospective cohort study

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    Author(s)
    Sveticic, Jerneja
    Too, Lay San
    De Leo, Diego
    Griffith University Author(s)
    De Leo, Diego
    Year published
    2012
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    Abstract
    Objective: A first study to compare suicides by missing persons with other suicide cases. Design: Retrospective cohort study for the period 1994–2007. Geographical location: Queensland, Australia. Population: 194 suicides by missing persons and 7545 other suicides were identified through the Queensland Suicide Register and the National Coroners Information System. Main outcome measure: χ2 statistics and binary logistic regression were used to identify distinct characteristics of suicides by missing persons. Results: Compared with other suicide cases, missing persons significantly more often died by motor vehicle exhaust ...
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    Objective: A first study to compare suicides by missing persons with other suicide cases. Design: Retrospective cohort study for the period 1994–2007. Geographical location: Queensland, Australia. Population: 194 suicides by missing persons and 7545 other suicides were identified through the Queensland Suicide Register and the National Coroners Information System. Main outcome measure: χ2 statistics and binary logistic regression were used to identify distinct characteristics of suicides by missing persons. Results: Compared with other suicide cases, missing persons significantly more often died by motor vehicle exhaust gas toxicity (23.7% vs 16.4%; χ2=7.32, p<0.01), jumping from height (6.7% vs 3.2%; χ2=7.08, p<0.01) or drowning (8.2% vs 1.8%; χ2=39.53, p<0.01), but less frequently by hanging (29.4% vs 39.9%; χ2=8.82, p<0.01). They were most frequently located in natural outdoors locations (58.2% vs 11.1%; χ2=388.25, p<0.01). Persons gone missing were less likely to have lived alone at time of death (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.76), yet more likely to be institutionalised (OR 3.12, 95% CI 1.28 to 7.64). They were less likely to have been physically ill (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.95) or have a history of problematic consumptions of alcohol (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.87). In comparison to other suicide cases, missing persons more often communicated their suicidal intent prior to death (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.22). Conclusions: Suicides by missing persons show several distinct characteristics in comparisons to other suicides. The findings have implications for development of suicide prevention strategies focusing on early identification and interventions targeting this group. In particular, it may offer assistance to police in designing risk assessment procedures and subsequent investigations of missing persons. ;
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    Journal Title
    BMJ Open
    Volume
    2
    Issue
    2
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000607
    Copyright Statement
    © The Author(s) 2012, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license.
    Subject
    Clinical sciences
    Mental health services
    Other health sciences
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/47534
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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