Temporal Patterns in Youth Suicide Deaths Reported in the National Violent Death Reporting System.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Suicide is a leading cause of death in children and adolescents. Prevention efforts may benefit from examining temporal patterns and precipitating circumstances of youth suicide deaths. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there are distinct temporal patterns of suicide death for youth. METHODS: We examined the distributions of suicide deaths across months of the year and days of the week in youth ages 10-18 using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System. RESULTS: We found that youth suicides peaked during March, April, and October on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. When disaggregated by separate years of age, we discovered unique patterns in 18-year-olds and 10-year-olds. Suicides peaked during July for 18-year-olds and on Saturday for 10-year-olds. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest a need to examine temporal patterns by separate years of age, as grouping ages together may mask unique trends.