Abstract
Seasonality and Suicide in Italy: Amplitude is Positively Related to Suicide Rates
Rocchi M B L~~Sisti D~~et al
Data from Italy were investigated to evaluate the influence of recent social & medicine-related changes on the seasonality of suicides in the country. A total of 71,227 male suicides & 26,466 female suicides occurring in Italy from 1974-2003 were investigated with harmonic spectral analysis to extract their monthly seasonal dispersion by 5-year intervals. Suicide rates of both males & females showed a rising trend, with an evident peak in the 1987-1994 period & a decrease thereafter. Seasonality of suicides, with a clear peak in spring, accounted for a statistically significant proportion of total variance. (57 refs.)