Risk factors associated with suicide clusters in Australian youth: Identifying who is at risk and the mechanisms associated with cluster membership.

Abstract

Background: It is unclear who is at risk of being involved in a suicide cluster and whether suicide clusters are influenced by the social transmission of suicidal behaviour, assortative relating, or a combination of both. Methods: Suicide clusters involving two or more young people were identified from the free text of electronic police and coroners reports in Australia's National Coronial Information System in a nationwide cross-sectional study. The duration of survival among exposed cases were estimated using time-to-event methods. The casewise concordance of demographic, social and clinical characteristics and circumstances of death were examined among index and exposed cases. Findings: W..