Railway suicide clusters: How common are they and what predicts them?

Abstract

Background: A growing number of studies have sought to detect clusters of all suicides, but few have sought to identify clusters of method-specific suicides. Methods: Data on railway suicides occurring in Victoria, Australia, between 2001 and 2012 were obtained from the National Coronial Information System. We used the Poisson discrete scan statistic to identify railway suicides that occurred close together in space and/or time. We then used a case-control design to compare clustered railway suicides with non-clustered railway suicides on a range of individual and neighbourhood factors. Results: We detected four spatial clusters that accounted for 35% of all railway suicides. Railway suicide..