Detecting the occurrence of suicide clusters at city block scale: evidence from a 26-year data series

IF 1.7 Q3 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
SA Estay , G Rivera , JC Olivares , R Fuentes-Ferrada , M Gotelli , C Heskia , C Rojas-Carvajal , J Santander , HC Lungenstrass , T Baader
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Suicide clusters have profound negative impacts in the affected communities. Despite the fact that the occurrence of this phenomenon is a rare event, it has been observed across diverse cultural contexts. Suicide clusters are commonly described as a higher number of suicides than expected by chance, occurring at relatively small time/space scales. In particular, point clusters have been reported as occurring in areas ranging from hundreds of meters to several kilometers and lasting from a few days to several months or years. Nevertheless, effective prevention of suicide clusters requires robust estimation of their spatial and temporal scales, especially at short distances such as the city-block scale. This study analyzes data from the city of Valdivia, Chile (1996–2021) using a DBSCAN-based approach. We detected seven suicide clusters at very small scale in different years. In the clusters, the distances between suicides were <300 m (two to three city blocks). For the entire period, 6 % of the suicides occurred in a cluster. These clusters contain between three and four suicides, each with higher prevalence of men and people over 30 years old. Our results provide important insights for implementing preventive actions at the neighborhood scale.
城市街区尺度自杀集群发生的检测:来自26年数据序列的证据
自杀集群对受影响社区产生了深远的负面影响。尽管这种现象的发生是罕见的,但在不同的文化背景下都有观察到。自杀集群通常被描述为自杀人数高于偶然预期,发生在相对较小的时间/空间尺度上。特别是,据报道,点簇发生在数百米到几公里的范围内,持续时间从几天到几个月或几年。然而,有效预防自杀集群需要对其空间和时间尺度进行可靠的估计,特别是在距离较短的地方,如城市街区尺度。本研究使用基于dbscan的方法分析了智利瓦尔迪维亚市(1996-2021)的数据。我们在不同年份发现了7个非常小规模的自杀集群。在这些集群中,自杀之间的距离为300米(两到三个城市街区)。在整个研究期间,6%的自杀事件发生在一个群体中。这些群集包含3至4起自杀事件,每起事件中男性和30岁以上人群的患病率较高。我们的研究结果为在社区范围内实施预防措施提供了重要的见解。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology
Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-
CiteScore
5.10
自引率
8.80%
发文量
63
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