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Suicides by jumping from a height in Hong Kong: a review of coroner court files

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Abstract

Purpose

Jumping from a height is the most common method for suicide in Hong Kong and other urban cities, but it remains understudied locally and internationally. We used Coroner records in exploring the ecological factors associated with these deaths and the personal characteristics of persons who jumped to their death (hereafter, “jumping suicides”). We compared suicides by jumping with all other suicides and examined the suicides that occurred at ten different jumping sites.

Methods

The Coroner’s files of all suicides in Hong Kong from 2002 to 2007 included 6,125 documented deaths.

Results

2,964 (48.4 %) involved jumping during the study period. Eighty-three percent (83 %) of suicide jumps occurred in residential buildings, and of these, 61% occurred from the decedent’s own home. Jumping suicides differed from non-jumping suicides in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., for male: 60.8 vs. 67.3 % of jumping suicide and non-jumping suicides, p < 0.0001) and the presence of physical illness (44.4 vs. 42.7 % for jumping and non-jumping suicides, p < 0.0001). While statistically significant, these differences are relatively modest. In contrast, 40.7 documented illnesses vs. 23.1 % for jumping and non-jumping suicides (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

Means restriction is a key strategy for suicide prevention. Installation of physical barriers, one of the mean restriction strategies, at common places for suicide has strong evidence to avert suicides without substitution effects. There seems to be challenges to implement physical barriers to prevent residential jumping suicides. Simply applying physical barriers to preclude jumping in Hong Kong appears to be difficult given its ubiquitous “high-rise” residential dwellings. Hence, we also need to develop alternative strategies aimed at preventing people from becoming suicidal.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Coroners Court in facilitating the data collection. The publication of this article was partly supported by the General Research Fund (HKU 756211H (PWCW); HKU 784210(PSFY)), and grant DHHS/PHS/CD CR49 CE002093 (EDC, PI). The authors are grateful to the useful suggestions from the reviewers.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Paul W. C. Wong, Carmen K. M. Lee & Paul S. F. Yip

  2. HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Paul W. C. Wong & Paul S. F. Yip

  3. Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Eric D. Caine

  4. VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, NY, USA

    Eric D. Caine

  5. Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Annette Beautrais

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  1. Paul W. C. Wong
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  2. Eric D. Caine
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  4. Annette Beautrais
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  5. Paul S. F. Yip
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Correspondence to Paul W. C. Wong.

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Wong, P.W.C., Caine, E.D., Lee, C.K.M. et al. Suicides by jumping from a height in Hong Kong: a review of coroner court files. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 49, 211–219 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0743-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0743-6

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