Study of Cork suicide cases reveals over 40% of victims had worked in construction

A study of suicide cases in Cork between 2008 and 2012 found more than 40 per cent of victims worked in the construction sector.

The research by the Suicide Support and Information System also pinpointed two large clusters of suicide in the region, including one that involved 13 cases over a three-month period.

The study, which analysed 307 consecutive suicide cases in Cork city and county over the four-year period, is one of the most in-depth investigations of potential subgroups and risk patterns associated with suicide in Ireland.

It found men accounted for 246 (80.1 per cent) of the suicide deaths, with 131 (53.3 per cent) of the victims being younger than 40.

The report of the research, published yesterday, indicated that 41 per cent of the victims had worked in the construction sector, which has suffered one of the biggest collapses in employment as a result of the recession. The next biggest employment group was agriculture which accounted for 13 per cent of the victims.

In terms of employment status, over 40 per cent of those who died by suicide were in paid employment, 33 per cent were unemployed, 11 per cent were retired, nearly 7 per cent were full-time students, 5 per cent had a long-term disability and 3 per cent were homemakers.

The report indicated a majority of male victims were single (57 per cent), whereas the majority of female victims were married or cohabiting (46.7 per cent).

A higher proportion of women (63.9 per cent) than men (34.1 per cent) had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, with depression being the most common primary diagnosis for both genders.

The study indicated that March, May and October “were exceptional” in that each of those months accounted for more than 10 per cent of suicides.

Days of the week on which a relatively high proportion of suicides occurred were Saturdays (19.2 per cent) and Mondays (17.6 per cent).

A history of self-harm was identified in 132 cases, of which 86 (65.2 per cent) had engaged in at least one act of deliberate self-harm.

Two suicide 'clusters'
The report also identified two clusters of suicide during the period, one of which involved 13 deaths in Cork county during a three-month period from April to June 2011, all of which took place within a 23km radius of each other.

Statistical analysis suggested this represented a 6.9-fold increase in the expected number of cases.

A second cluster, involving seven cases, also occurred in Cork county over a two-month period from September to October in 2011, all within a 28km radius of each other.

This represented a 13.46-fold increase on the expected number of cases.

The report was commissioned by the National Suicide Research Foundation to assess whether there are different subgroups among people who die by suicide.

It also investigated whether advanced geospatial techniques could be used to identify emerging suicide clusters.