Shu-Sen Chang1,2,3, Simon Sai Man Kwok4, Qijin Cheng2, Paul S F Yip2,3, Ying-Yeh Chen5,6,7. 1. Institute of Health Policy and Management, and Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. 2. Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong. 3. Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong. 4. School of Economics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. 5. Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. ychen@tpech.gov.tw. 6. Department of Public Health, Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. ychen@tpech.gov.tw. 7. Taipei City Psychiatric Center, 309 Songde Road, XinYi District, Taipei, Taiwan. ychen@tpech.gov.tw.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Some East/Southeast Asian countries have experienced a rapid increase in suicide by charcoal burning over the past decade. Media reporting and Internet use were thought to contribute to the epidemic. We investigated the association between method-specific suicide incidence and both Internet search volume and newspaper reporting in Taiwan. METHOD: Weekly data for suicide, suicide-related Google search volume, and the number of articles reporting suicide in four major newspapers in Taiwan during 2008-2011 were obtained. Poisson autoregressive regression models were used to examine the associations between these variables. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted models, every 10 % increase in Google searches was associated with a 4.3 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.1-7.6 %] increase in charcoal-burning suicide incidence in the same week, and a 3.8 % (95 % CI 0.4-7.2 %) increase in the following week. A one-article increase in the United Daily was associated with a 3.6 % (95 % CI 1.5-5.8 %) increase in charcoal-burning suicide in the same week. By contrast, non-charcoal-burning suicide was not associated with Google search volume, but was associated with the Apple Daily's reporting in the preceding week. CONCLUSIONS: We found that increased Internet searches for charcoal-burning suicide appeared to be associated with a subsequent increase in suicide by this method. The prevention of suicide using emerging methods may include monitoring and regulating online information that provides details of these methods as well as encouraging Internet service providers to provide help-seeking information.
PURPOSE: Some East/Southeast Asian countries have experienced a rapid increase in suicide by charcoal burning over the past decade. Media reporting and Internet use were thought to contribute to the epidemic. We investigated the association between method-specific suicide incidence and both Internet search volume and newspaper reporting in Taiwan. METHOD: Weekly data for suicide, suicide-related Google search volume, and the number of articles reporting suicide in four major newspapers in Taiwan during 2008-2011 were obtained. Poisson autoregressive regression models were used to examine the associations between these variables. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted models, every 10 % increase in Google searches was associated with a 4.3 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.1-7.6 %] increase in charcoal-burning suicide incidence in the same week, and a 3.8 % (95 % CI 0.4-7.2 %) increase in the following week. A one-article increase in the United Daily was associated with a 3.6 % (95 % CI 1.5-5.8 %) increase in charcoal-burning suicide in the same week. By contrast, non-charcoal-burning suicide was not associated with Google search volume, but was associated with the Apple Daily's reporting in the preceding week. CONCLUSIONS: We found that increased Internet searches for charcoal-burning suicide appeared to be associated with a subsequent increase in suicide by this method. The prevention of suicide using emerging methods may include monitoring and regulating online information that provides details of these methods as well as encouraging Internet service providers to provide help-seeking information.
Entities:
Keywords:
Charcoal burning; Google search; Internet; Media; Newspaper; Suicide; Taiwan
Authors: Qijin Cheng; Chi Leung Kwok; Tingshao Zhu; Li Guan; Paul S F Yip Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2015-09-11 Impact factor: 3.390