The association of trends in charcoal-burning suicide with Google search and newspaper reporting in Taiwan: a time series analysis
Journal
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Journal Volume
50
Journal Issue
9
Pages
1451-1461
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Abstract
Purpose: Some East/Southeast Asian countries have experienced a rapid increase in suicide by charcoal burning over the past decade. Media reporting and Internet use were thought to contribute to the epidemic. We investigated the association between method-specific suicide incidence and both Internet search volume and newspaper reporting in Taiwan. Method: Weekly data for suicide, suicide-related Google search volume, and the number of articles reporting suicide in four major newspapers in Taiwan during 2008–2011 were obtained. Poisson autoregressive regression models were used to examine the associations between these variables. Results: In the fully adjusted models, every 10?% increase in Google searches was associated with a 4.3?% [95?% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–7.6?%] increase in charcoal-burning suicide incidence in the same week, and a 3.8?% (95?% CI 0.4–7.2?%) increase in the following week. A one-article increase in the United Daily was associated with a 3.6?% (95?% CI 1.5–5.8?%) increase in charcoal-burning suicide in the same week. By contrast, non-charcoal-burning suicide was not associated with Google search volume, but was associated with the Apple Daily’s reporting in the preceding week. Conclusions: We found that increased Internet searches for charcoal-burning suicide appeared to be associated with a subsequent increase in suicide by this method. The prevention of suicide using emerging methods may include monitoring and regulating online information that provides details of these methods as well as encouraging Internet service providers to provide help-seeking information. ? 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Subjects
Charcoal burning; Google search; Internet; Media; Newspaper; Suicide; Taiwan
Other Subjects
charcoal; adult; carbon monoxide intoxication; epidemiology; female; human; Internet; male; middle aged; mortality; publication; search engine; statistics and numerical data; suicide; Taiwan; time; trends; utilization; Adult; Carbon Monoxide Poisoning; Charcoal; Female; Humans; Internet; Male; Middle Aged; Newspapers as Topic; Search Engine; Suicide; Taiwan; Time Factors
Type
journal article