Pennington Michelle L, Ylitalo Kelly R, Lanning Beth A, Dolan Sara L, Gulliver Suzy B
Baylor University, 1311 S 5th St., Waco, TX 76708, United States; Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, 2201 MacArthur Dr., Suite 2200, Waco, TX 76708, United States.
Baylor University, 1311 S 5th St., Waco, TX 76708, United States.
Psychiatry Res. 2021 Jan;295:113594. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113594. Epub 2020 Nov 25.
Suicide is a significant concern among fire service due to high rates of suicide behaviors. The aim of this study was to describe suicides among firefighters using national suicide death data. Data from the National Violent Death Reporting System for 722 firefighters and 192,430 non-firefighters were analyzed to compare sociodemographics and risk factors between firefighter and non-firefighter decedents; and among firefighters based on suicide means. A greater proportion of firefighter decedents died by firearm compared to non-firefighters. Firefighter decedents were less likely to have been diagnosed with depression, but more likely to have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder compared to non-firefighters. A greater percentage of firefighter decedents had a relationship or physical health problem prior to death, but a lower percentage had a history of suicide thoughts/attempts. Among firefighter decedents, multivariate analysis showed physical health problems and disclosing suicide intent predicted death by firearm. Greater awareness of risk factors, reduced access to lethal means, and ensuring access to behavioral health services may aide in decreasing suicide mortality in this population. These findings should be interpreted with caution due to limitations concerning report accuracy, generalizability, small female sample size, and inclusion of data only for lethal suicide attempts.
由于自杀行为发生率较高，自杀是消防部门极为关注的问题。本研究的目的是利用全国自杀死亡数据描述消防员中的自杀情况。对来自国家暴力死亡报告系统的722名消防员和192,430名非消防员的数据进行了分析，以比较消防员和非消防员死者之间的社会人口统计学和风险因素；并根据自杀方式对消防员进行分析。与非消防员相比，死于枪支的消防员死者比例更高。与非消防员相比，消防员死者被诊断患有抑郁症的可能性较小，但被诊断患有创伤后应激障碍的可能性更大。更高比例的消防员死者在死亡前存在人际关系或身体健康问题，但有自杀想法/企图史的比例较低。在消防员死者中，多变量分析显示身体健康问题和透露自杀意图可预测死于枪支。提高对风险因素的认识、减少获取致命手段的机会以及确保获得行为健康服务可能有助于降低该人群的自杀死亡率。由于报告准确性、普遍性、女性样本量小以及仅纳入致命自杀企图数据等局限性，这些发现应谨慎解读。
