142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Financial problems as a contributor to suicide, before and after the global financial crisis of 2008: Findings from the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Suzanne McLone, MPH , Child Health Data Lab, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Antigone Kouvelis, BA , Child Health Data Lab, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Nida Tariq, BS , Child Health Data Lab, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Maryann Mason, PhD , Pediatrics/CMRC, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Jenifer Cartland, PhD , Child Health Data Lab, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Backgroud/Purpose The global financial crisis of 2008 has been linked to an increase in suicides, primarily through time-trend analyses. The Illinois Violent Death Reporting System (IVDRS) collects data from multiple sources to identify the specific circumstances surrounding each death. Using IVDRS data, we analyze the association between a financial problem as a contributor to suicide and time post-crisis.

Methods Analysis performed using binary logistic regression. Included in the analysis are 3,092 suicides between the years of 2005-2010 in five Illinois counties.  Financial problems are documented if the victim was experiencing a problem such as bankruptcy, overwhelming debts, foreclosure of a home/business, etc., and this contributed to the suicide.   The dependent variable in the final model was whether or not financial problems contributed to the suicide.  Independent variables included in the final model were time (pre-crisis [2005-2007] versus post-crisis [2008-2010]), age, marital status (married, never married, divorced, separated or widowed, each as yes/no variables), job problems (yes/no) and depression (yes/no). 

Results/Outcome Time post-crisis (OR 1.5 [1.2-1.8]), being 45 to 54 years old, versus all other ages, (OR 1.6 [1.3-2.0]), being married (OR 1.4 [1.1-1.9]), being divorced (OR 1.7 [1.3-2.3]), depression (1.5 [1.2-1.9]) and job problems (OR 4.9 [3.9-6.2]) were each significantly, positively associated with financial problems contributing to the suicide.  Factors not associated with financial problems as a contributing factor to suicide were sex, race/ethnicity, education and alcohol abuse. 

Conclusions These findings suggest that financial issues as a contributing factor in suicide increased after the global economic crisis of 2008.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
Explain what constitutes an identified financial problem as a contributor to suicide in IVDRS. Compare financial problems as a contributor to suicide before and after the global economic crisis of 2008 in the IVDRS dataset. Identify demographic differences associated with financial problems as contributing factors to suicide in the IVDRS dataset.

Keyword(s): Suicide

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an epidemiologist who is responsible for, among other things, the database management and all data analysis for the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3303.0: Issues in injury and violence