Trends in, and Risk Factors for, Suicide in Public Places: A 17-Year Case-Control Study in Australia

To examine factors associated with the choice of public location over home to die by suicide.

This study used a case-control design. Data on suicides that occurred between 2001 and 2017 in Australia were extracted from the National Coronial Information System. Cases were suicides that occurred in public places and controls were suicides that occurred at home. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between suicide location and several sociodemographic variables, depending on whether hotel rooms were included in or excluded from public places.

In total, 25.2% of 42,656 suicides occurred in public places including hotel rooms, 69.3% at home, and 5.4% in nonpublic places other than at home (e.g., inpatient ward or correctional facilities). Excluding suicides in hotel rooms from public places, 1.6% points of suicides in public places moved to nonpublic places other than at home. In multivariable regression models regardless of scenarios, males (compared with females) had higher odds of dying by suicide in public places, while those who were divorced/separated/widowed (compared with married people), those who were older (aged 30-54, and aged 55 and above, compared with under 30 years), and those who were unemployed or not in the labor force (compared with employed people) had lower odds of suicide in public places.

The findings should be used to inform the design of strategies to prevent suicides in public places.