The relationship between suicide and disaster is an important problem but it's not clear. We conducted this study to determine whether a natural disaster affects suicide rates.
We collected data on suicides during the 84 months before and the 60 months after the earthquake and compared the suicide rate in Kobe to that in Japan as a whole. We also examined what groups were significantly affected.
Compared with Japan as a whole, the suicide rates in Kobe significantly decreased in the 2 years after the earthquake.
An influence on suicide rate after the disaster clearly appeared in middle-aged men.