Suicide Clustering in a Psychiatric Hospital With a History of a Suicide Epidemic: a Quantitative Study

To determine if the suicides in a Finnish psychiatric hospital with a history of a suicide epidemic were clustered & if the sex distribution of the suicides followed a random pattern, 59 consecutive inpatient suicides from 1967-1992 were studied. No statistically significant temporal clustering was found; the sex distribution of the suicides was random. It is concluded that inpatient suicide epidemics seem to be rare & separate events, related more to temporary micro-social factors.