Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:51:20.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Suicides in Los Angeles County in Relation to the Northridge Earthquake

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Kimberley Shoaf ,
Cary Sauter ,
Linda B. Bourque ,
Christian Giangreco  and
Billie Weiss
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduction:

Recently, there has been speculation that suicide rates increase after a disaster. Yet, in spite of anecdotal reports, it is difficult to demonstrate a systematic relationship between suicide and disaster. Suicides are fairly rare events, and single disasters rarely have covered geographic areas with large enough populations to be able to find statistically significant differences in such relatively rare events (annual suicide rates in the United States average 12/100,000 population).

Hypothesis:

Suicide rates increased in the three calendar years (1994–1996) following the Northridge earthquake as compared to the three calendar years (1991–1993) prior to the earthquake. Likewise the suicide rates for 1993 are compared with the rates in 1994. By looking at the suicide rates in a three-year period after the earthquake, the additional disasters that befell Southern California in 1995 and 1996 may have had an additive effect on psychological disorders and suicide rates that can be measured.

Methods:

Data on suicide mortality were compiled for the years from 1989 through 1996. Differences in rates for 1993 compared with 1994 and for three-year periods before and after the earthquake (1991–1993 vs. 1994 –1996) were analyzed using a z-statistic.

Results:

There is a statistically significant difference in the rates for the years prior to the earthquake (1991–1993) when pooled and compared to the suicide rates for the years after the earthquake (1994–1996). The rates of suicide are lower in the three years following the earthquake (11.85 vs. 13.12/100,000 population) than they are in the three years prior to the earthquake (z = -3.85, p <0.05). Likewise, there is a similar difference when comparing 1993 to 1994 (11.77 vs. 13.84, z = -3.57, p <0.05). The patterns of suicide remain similar over time, with males and non-Hispanic Whites having the highest rates of suicide.

Conclusion:

It does not appear that suicide rates increase as a result of earthquakes in this setting. This study demonstrates that the psychological impacts of the Northridge earthquake did not culminate in an increase in the rates of suicide.

Keywords

disasterearthquakemental healthsuicide
Type
Research Article
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 307 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Lycos News Online. Available at http://news.lycos.com/stories/top-news/19981230rtnews-california.asp. Accessed 17 July 2002.Google Scholar
2.Bravo, M, Rubio-Stipec, M, Canino, GJ, et al. : The psychological sequelae of disaster stress prospectively and retrospectively evaluated. Am J Community Psychol 1990;18(5):661–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Bromet, E, Dew, MA: Review of psychiatric epidemiologic research on disasters. Epidemiol Rev 1995;17:113–119.10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036166CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Patrick, V, Patrick, WK: Cyclone '78 in Sri Lanka–The mental health trail. Br J Psychiatry 1981;138:210–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Steinglass, P, Gerity, E: Natural disasters and post-traumatic stress disorder: Short-term versus long-term recovery in two disaster affected communities. J Appl Soc Psychol 1990;20(21):1746–1765.10.1111/j.1559-1816.1990.tb01509.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Siegel, JM: Emotional injury and the Northridge California earthquake. Natural Hazards Review 2000;1(4):204–211.10.1061/(ASCE)1527-6988(2000)1:4(204)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Siegel, JM, Shoaf, KI, Bourque, LB: The C-Mississippi Scale for PTSD in postearthquake communities. Intern J Mass Emerg Disast 2000;18(2):339–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Alexander, D: Does a link really exist? Natural Hazards Observer 1998;22(5):4Google Scholar
9.Shioiri, T,Nishimura, A,Nushida, H, et al. : The Kobe Earthquake and reduced suicide rate in Japanese males. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1999;56(3):282–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Krug, EG Kresnow, MS, Peddicord, MS, et al. : Suicide after natural disasters. N Eng J Med 1998;338(6):373–378.10.1056/NEJM199802053380607CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Krug, EG, Kresnow, MS, Peddicord, MS, et al. : Retraction: Suicide after natural disasters. N Eng J Med 1999;340(2):148–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Peek-Asa, C., Kraus, JF, Bourque, LB, et al. : Fatal and hospitalized injuries resulting from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Int J Epidemiol 1998;27:459–465.10.1093/ije/27.3.459CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Shoaf, KI, Sareen, HR, Nguyen, LH, Bourque, LB: Injuries as a result of California earthquakes in the past decade. Disasters 1998;22(3):218–235.10.1111/1467-7717.00088CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Eguchi, RT, Goltz, JD, Taylor, CE, et al. : Direct economic losses in the Northridge earthquake: A three-year post-event perspective. Earthquake Spectra 1998;14(2):245–264.10.1193/1.1585998CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Parish, M: Storm loss estimate for crops rises to $519 million agriculture: Officials are now calling this California's worst rainy season ever. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California: 23 March 1995.Google Scholar
16.CNN Interactive: Concern in California turns from wildfires to mudslides, 29 October 1996. Available at http://www.cnn.com/US/9610/29/wildfires/index.html. Accessed 19 July 2002.Google Scholar
17.California Department of Finance: Demographic Research Unit. California Demographics, 19 July 2002. Available at http:/www.dof.ca.gov/html/Demograp/druhpar.htm. Accesssed 19 July 2002.Google Scholar
18.The Center for Disease Control: Regional variations in suicide rates–United States, 1990–1994. MMWR 1997;46(34):789–793.Google Scholar