论文部分内容阅读
Background: In Australia, around 30 thousand people are reported as missing every year.While the reasons for their disappearing are various, some go missing with the intent to commit suicide in a remote or distant location.To date, no study has examined characteristics of persons that have been reported as missing prior to suicide.Method: Data sources utilised were the Queensland Suicide Register (QSR) and National Coroners Information System (NCIS), containing information from police forms, post-mortem and toxicology reports, and coroners findings.Between 1990 and 2007, 214 cases that were reported as missing persons to police prior to being found dead were identified.Results: When compared to "non-missing" suicide cases (n=9,179), suicides reported as missing prior to death less often used hanging (27% vs.36%) or firearms (9% vs.16%) as suicide method, but more used often carbon monoxide toxicity (24% vs.16%) and other methods, such as jumping from height or drowning (24% vs.15%).Further, they were more likely to be Caucasian (87% vs.78%), in a relationship (40% vs.31%), living in metropolitan area (63 vs.55%), had a history of mental disorder (48% vs.38%), attempted suicide in the past (30% vs.25%), communicated their suicide intent (46% vs.35%), and left a suicide note (45% vs.36%).They were less likely to consume problematic levels of alcohol (9% vs.16%) or illicit drugs (14% vs.21%).Lastly, they more commonly experienced a conflict with a partner (12% vs.9%) or family member (8% vs.5%) prior to death than cases of suicide that did not go missing.Majority of these cases were found either at outdoors location, such as the bushland or mountain cliffs (39%), river banks/beaches (11%), or other urban areas, such roadsides, paddocks or hotels (24%).Conclusion: Future research should focus on characteristics, distinguishing types of missing persons.In particular, it is important to improve current practices used by police officers in evaluating the risk for suicide in persons reported as missing.A better understanding of underlying reasons for committing suicide in this manner could in the future pave way for designing of adequate strategies addressing particular needs of this sub-population of suicidal persons.