Identifying and Tracking Gas Suicides in the U.S. Using the National Violent Death Reporting System, 2005–2012

Azrael, Deborah; Mukamal, Alexander; Cohen, Amy; Gunnell, David; Barber, Catherine; Miller, Matthew J.

doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2016.08.006

Cited by 15 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The proportion of suicide deaths by inhalational asphyxia is similar to what has been observed in England and Wales as well as the U.S. (Azrael et al, 2016;Cantrell and Lucas, 2014) and the pattern of an increase in suicide by helium accompanied by a reduction by motor vehicle exhaust is also consistent with prior research (Azrael et al, 2016) although these changes likely represent two different co-occurring phenomena (i.e. social contagion of the helium method vs. an increase in the proportion of motor vehicles fitted with catalytic converters (Studdert et al, 2010), respectively).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…The only Canadian study on the topic was a case series in British Columbia which identified 20 suicide deaths by helium asphyxia in the province from 1999(Ogden and Hassan, 2011. More recent, population-level analyses have demonstrated increases in suicide death by helium asphyxia in the U.S. (Azrael et al, 2016;Hassamal et al, 2015), the Netherlands (van den Hondel et al, 2016), Australia and Sweden (Austin et al, 2011), England and M A N U S C R I P T 6 Wales and Hong Kong (Chang et al, 2016) and have demonstrated a signal that the method may be spreading to Asia (Chang et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…People living in urban areas were found to be at higher risk likely because of greater access to both the charcoal itself and media exposures (Chang et al, 2010). Recent studies have also demonstrated a signal of an increase in the use of this method of suicide in England and Wales as well as the U.S. (Azrael et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Suicide deaths by gas inhalation in Toronto: An observational study of emerging methods of suicide

Sinyor

Williams

Vincent

et al. 2019

Journal of Affective Disorders

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Suicide deaths by gas inhalation in Toronto: An observational study of emerging methods of suicide

Sinyor

Williams

Vincent

et al. 2019

Journal of Affective Disorders

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“…It should be added that in the period from 1985 to 1999, no suicides due to helium inhalation were recorded in the territory of South Australia [14]. A review [15] of suicide cases in the USA in the years 2005-2012 showed that helium was used in 665 cases of a total of 80,715 suicides registered in the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). There were a total 3242 cases of suicidal deaths by gas asphyxiation, 73% of which were caused by carbon monoxide (CO), followed by helium (21%) [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A review [15] of suicide cases in the USA in the years 2005-2012 showed that helium was used in 665 cases of a total of 80,715 suicides registered in the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). There were a total 3242 cases of suicidal deaths by gas asphyxiation, 73% of which were caused by carbon monoxide (CO), followed by helium (21%) [15]. Similar results were obtained by a retrospective analysis of suicides in San Diego County between 2000 and 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicidal deaths due to helium inhalation

2019

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Purpose The authors reviewed the literature paying attention to helium suicide rates, autopsy findings in people exposed to helium, methods of collecting biological material for toxicological tests, and analytical methods used for detection and quantification of helium in the collected specimens. Methods All reviewed information was gathered through a detailed search of Scopus, PubMed and the WorldWide Web using relevant keywords, e.g., helium, asphyxia, and suicide. Results The use of helium for suicidal purposes is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon around the world. This is undoubtedly influenced by the Internet, which explains in detail the technical aspects of the suicidal use of helium and describes the dying process. Exposure to helium does not lead to poisoning; instead, death is caused by asphyxia. Conclusions Deaths due to helium asphyxiation are still a problem for modern forensic toxicology. Most current methods for collecting biological specimens and identifying the gas seem to be insufficient to give definite opinions in cases of helium asphyxiation. More attempts should be made to modify these methods in order to improve and facilitate detection and quantitative determination of helium and other inert gases.

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Prehospital characteristics, incidence trends, and outcome of emergency self‐inflicted injury patients with gas substances: a population‐based descriptive study in Osaka, Japan

Katayama

Matsuyama

Kitamura

et al. 2019

Acute Medicine & Surgery

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Little is known about the detailed characteristics of patients using gas substances for self-inflicted injury in prehospital settings. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics, incidence trends, and outcomes of patients who used gas substances for self-inflicted injury in Osaka City, Japan, using ambulance records. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study that used data from 2009 to 2015. We extracted details from ambulance records of self-inflicted injury patients who used gas substances. The annual incidence of self-inflicted injury by gas substance and age group and Poisson regression models were applied for calculating the annual incidence trend by type of gas substance. The main outcome was confirmed death at the scene, and we also calculated the crude odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for each gas substance. Results: During the study period, there were 324 self-inflicted injury patients who used gas substances. The most commonly used gases were carbon monoxide (CO) (54.9%), followed by hydrogen sulfide (12.7%), helium (6.5%). The incidence of CO and hydrogen sulfide have subsequently decreased (P for trend = 0.023 and <0.001, respectively); however, the incidence of helium did not change during the study period (P for trend = 0.586). The mortality rate was highest in patients who used helium (66.7% [14/21]) and the crude odds ratio of helium was 3.857 (95% confidence interval, 1.267-11.745; P = 0.017) compared with hydrogen sulfide. Conclusion: This study revealed that the incidence of self-inflicted injury with helium did not change and its proportion of death at the scene was high in Osaka City.

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Identifying and Tracking Gas Suicides in the U.S. Using the National Violent Death Reporting System, 2005–2012

Abstract: Public health policies to reduce a suicidal person's access to more lethal suicide methods require a reliable source of surveillance data on specific methods used in suicide. Small changes to NVDRS could make it an efficient and nimble surveillance system for tracking these deaths.

Cited by 15 publications

References 37 publications

Suicide deaths by gas inhalation in Toronto: An observational study of emerging methods of suicide

Suicide deaths by gas inhalation in Toronto: An observational study of emerging methods of suicide

Suicidal deaths due to helium inhalation

Prehospital characteristics, incidence trends, and outcome of emergency self‐inflicted injury patients with gas substances: a population‐based descriptive study in Osaka, Japan

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