Seasonality of Suicide in the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1979-2003

This study evaluated suicide seasonality in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Suicides were evaluated using the chi-square test & analysis of variance by comparing monthly, quarterly, & half-year variations, differentiating by gender. Analyses of time series were carried out using the autocorrelation function & periodogram, while the significance level for seasonality was confirmed with the Fisher’s test. Differences were observed in suicides occurring in spring & autumn for the toal sample of 11,434 cases & in the male sample. For the analysis of time series, seasonality was significant only for the period of 7 months in the male sample. Some of the climatic particularities of the tropical zone might explain the atypical seasonality of suicides found in large populations within an urban area & tropical zone. (22 refs.)