Did you know: there's a stronger correlation between suicide attempts around Valentine's Day than Christmas Day

As this very short article explains there's evidence to suggest that more people attempt suicide on Valentine's day than Christmas Day.

http://www.bmj.com/content/300/6727/783.full.pdf
Association between parasuicide and Saint Valentine's Day
Susan M Davenport, Jan Birtle
British Medical Journal

"
Experience in a casualty department suggested to us
that an unusually high number of patients who
had taken an overdose of drugs presented on Saint
Valentine's Day (14 February). Previous studies have
shown an association between parasuicide (non-fatal
deliberate self harm) and stressful events such as an
unsuccessful relationship, unemployment, and
physical illness.' The festival of Saint Valentine's Day
may induce stress due to unrequited love, but to our
knowledge the incidence of parasuicide on this day has
not been determined. We therefore investigated
the association between Saint Valentine's Day and
parasuicide.

Patients, methods, and results
We sought information on all patients presenting to
one accident and emergency unit in each of the Central,
South, and West Birmingham health districts on
particular days during 1983-8. The days were Saint
Valentine's Day; 7 February and 15 August (control
days selected to minimise possible bias due to the
season or day of the week); and Christmas Day,
another festival traditionally linked with strong
emotions. The number of cases of parasuicide was
recorded for each day. The Poisson distribution was
used to calculate 95% confidence intervals for the
numbers of cases.
One hundred and seventy cases of parasuicide were
seen. More cases occurred on Saint Valentine's Day
than on the two control days or Christmas Day (table).

The 95% confidence intervals for the numbers of cases
indicated an association with Saint Valentine's Day
and, to a lesser extent, with Christmas Day.
Significant differences in age were found among the
patients according to the day of presentation: those
who presented on Saint Valentine's Day and Christmas
Day (median age 21 and 22 respectively) were younger
than those who presented on the control days
(7 February, age 28; 15 August, age 31) (p<OOl,
Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance).
The proportion of patients who were adolescent
(defined as those aged 12-202) was higher on Saint
Valentine's Day (45%) and Christmas Day (36%) than
on the control days (7 February, 17%; 15 August,
11%). The 95% confidence intervals for the numbers
of adolescent patients again indicated an association
with Saint Valentine's Day and, to a lesser extent,
Christmas Day (table).

Comment
Our study showed an association between Saint
Valentine's Day and parasuicide, particularly in
adolescent patients. There was also an association,
although weaker, between parasuicide and Christmas
Day.

We studied only people who attended hospital, so
our figures are underestimates of the true incidence,
although they probably reflect trends in the population.
Case records were not detailed enough to confirm
a causal association between disappointments in
personal relationships and parasuicide, but our clinical
experience suggests that such an association exists. In
one series of adolescent self poisoners 52% reported
difficulties in relationships with boyfriends or
girlfriends, which supports the possibility of a causal
link. The suggestive association between Christmas
Day and parasuicide is further evidence that festivals,
and the consequent pressure on interpersonal
relationships, may be of aetiological importance.
The dangers of parasuicide include physical damage,
repetitive self injury, and death.4 Information about
aetiological factors can be useful in planning preventive
strategies-for example, the provision of education
and counselling for target groups. We suggest that
those in contact with adolescents should be particularly
vigilant during emotionally charged festivals such as
Christmas Day and Saint Valentine's Day.
"