Railway Suicide Attempts are Associated with Amount of Sunlight in Recent Days

This article assessed the relationship between hours of sunlight and railway suicide attempts, 3–7 days before these attempts. All railway suicide attempts causing railway suspensions or delays of 30 min or more between 2002 and 2006 were assessed. The authors used a linear probability model to assess this relationship. This study was conducted at Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Osaka prefectures in Japan. Data were collected from the railway delay incident database of the Japanese Railway Technical Research Institute and public weather database of the Japan Meteorological Agency. About 971 railway suicides attempts occurred between 2002 and 2006 in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Osaka. Less sunlight in the 7 days leading up to the railway suicide attempts was associated with a higher proportion of attempts (p=0.0243). Sunlight over the 3 days before an attempt had a similar trend (p=0.0888). No difference was found in sunlight hours between the days with (median: 5.6 [IQR: 1.1–8.8]) and without (median: 5.7 [IQR: 1.0–8.9]) railway suicide attempts in the evening. Finally, there was no apparent correlation between the railway suicide attempts and the monthly average sunlight hours of the attempted month or those of a month before. Railway suicides were not the main suicidal method in Japan. The authors observed an increased proportion of railway suicide attempts after several days without sunlight. Light exposure (blue light or bright white light) in trains may be useful in reducing railway suicides, especially when consecutive days without sunshine are forecasted.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.08.040
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032713006770
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01650327
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Kadotani, Hiroshi
  • Nagai, Yumiko
  • Sozu, Takashi
• Publication Date: 2014-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 162-168
• Serial:
  • Journal of Affective Disorders
  • Volume: 152–154
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0165-0327
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01650327

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash data; Forecasting; Railroad crashes; Suicide; Sunlight; Traffic delays
• Geographic Terms: Kanagawa (Japan); Osaka (Japan); Tokyo (Japan)
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01515129
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 21 2014 3:16PM