EPA-0540 - To Assess the Impact of Seasonality in Suicide Attempts of Higher Lethality, as Measured by Both the Risk-rescue Rating and the Beck Lethality Scales

Abstract

Suicide, in Spain, is currently the first cause of unnatural death ahead of road traffic accidents. In 2011, 3429 people committed suicide in this country. Seasonality in suicidal behavior has been better established for consummated suicides than for suicide attempts. One possible explanation is the reported lower prevalence of violent methods used in attempted suicides, as suicides using more lethal methods have been described to have higher seasonal variations. However, the most widely used classification to determine the lethality of an event – non-violent (poisoning) vs. violent (all the other methods) – is somewhat simplistic, and may lack sensitivity when applied to attempted suicides. The Risk-Rescue Rating, and the Beck Lethality scales are both reliable tools to measure the severity of a suicide attempt. Our goal in this study is to assess the impact of seasonality (month of the year) in suicide attempts of higher lethality, as measured by both the Risk-Rescue Rating and the Beck Lethality scales, when compared to less lethal attempts. Our hypothesis is that the high-scoring suicide attempts on the lethality scales will be associated with seasonal variation to a greater extent than the low-scoring attempts.