Alcohol and the Risk of Railway Suicide

Dorota Lasota, Ahmed Al-Wathinani, Paweł Krajewski, Dagmara Mirowska-Guzel, Krzysztof Goniewicz, Attila J. Hertelendy, Riyadh A. Alhazmi, Witold Pawłowski, Amir Khorram-Manesh and Mariusz Goniewicz
Additional contact information
Dorota Lasota: Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, Banacha 1b Street, 02097 Warsaw, Poland
Ahmed Al-Wathinani: Department of Emergency Medical Services, Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz College for Emergency Medical Services, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Paweł Krajewski: Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, 50368 Warsaw, Poland
Dagmara Mirowska-Guzel: Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, Banacha 1b Street, 02097 Warsaw, Poland
Krzysztof Goniewicz: Department of Aviation Security, Military University of Aviation, 08521 Dęblin, Poland
Attila J. Hertelendy: Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, College of Business, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA
Riyadh A. Alhazmi: Department of Emergency Medical Services, Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz College for Emergency Medical Services, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Witold Pawłowski: Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 20081 Lublin, Poland
Amir Khorram-Manesh: Institute of Clinical Sciences, Department of Surgery, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, 41345 Gothenburg, Sweden
Mariusz Goniewicz: Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 20081 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-10

Abstract: Suicide is one of the ten most common causes of death in the world. Of all deaths from suicide, 22% can be attributed to the use of alcohol, which means that every fifth suicide would not occur if alcohol were not consumed by the population. People under the influence of alcohol choose more radical and effective methods of dying by suicide, e.g., throwing themselves under a moving vehicle, such as a train. The presented analysis aimed to determine important risk factors affecting railway suicide in Poland and their relation to the state of alcohol intoxication of the victims, and the relationship between ethyl alcohol consumption and the phenomenon of suicide. Documentation obtained from the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw, in the form of death registers and forensic medical records concerning examination and autopsy, was analyzed. This made it possible to identify suicide victims from among pedestrian victims of railway accidents recorded during the period under study. The research was carried out using unidimensional and multidimensional statistical analyses with IBM SPSS Statistics, version 25. Sober suicide victims were statistically significantly older than victims under the influence of alcohol; alcohol concentration was correlated with the age of the victims—the older the victims were, the higher the alcohol concentration. A significantly higher number of deaths attributed to suicide by sober victims was observed in autumn compared to other seasons. Multidimensional analysis showed a statistically significant effect of age and season on the probability of dying by suicide under the influence of alcohol—this probability decreases with the age of the victims and is also significantly lower in autumn. The observed relationship between age and the presence of alcohol in suicide victims can be the cause of railway suicides. Knowledge of the mechanisms of seasonal variability of suicidal behavior can help to develop effective strategies to prevent railway suicides. It is necessary to improve the system of reporting railway suicides, as only reliable statistics provide the possibility of assessing both the scale of the problem and the effectiveness of actions taken.

Keywords: alcohol; ethanol; suicide; railway suicide; railway accidents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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