Epidemiology of low-level bridge jumping in Pittsburgh: a 10-year study

Change in incidents of suicidal acts after intervention on a bridge in South Korea

PURPOSE

To investigate whether two novel interventions on a bridge - a Video Incident Detection System (VIDS) and spinning bar barriers - have an impact on suicidal behaviour on the bridge.

METHODS

A total of 146 suicidal acts were retrieved for analyses; 108 interventions before suicidal acts, 35 suicide deaths and 3 suicide attempts. Incident rate ratios (IRR) were calculated to estimate the change in incident rate associated with implementation of the two interventions: VIDS and the spinning bar 2-metre high barrier.

RESULTS

The results of the Poisson regression showed that the rate of suicide deaths, after installation the VIDS, did not change significantly (IRR: 1.23, 95% Confidence Interval [95% CI]: 0.59-2.56), although the rate of intervened suicidal acts increased (IRR: 2.40, 95% CI: 1.65-3.47). The results showed that subsequent spinning bar installation resulted in a decrease in the incident rate of intervened suicidal acts (IRR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.25-0.57) as well as suicide deaths (IRR: 0.23, 95% CI: 0.07-0.71). Comparison of the period when both interventions were in place with the period with no interventions indicated a reduction in suicide deaths (IRR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.10-0.82), but no change in intervened suicidal acts (IRR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.59-1.38).

CONCLUSION

The rate of suicide death decreased after the installation of the spinning bar barrier but not after the implementation of VIDS alone. Our findings reinforce that restricting access to means is a highly effective way of preventing suicide on bridges and that spinning bars may be a helpful way to design barriers.

Trauma Patterns of Drowning after Falling from Bridges over Han River

Objective

Recently, the number of patients who fell or jumped from bridges over Han River has rapidly increased. However, the injury patterns and outcomes of these patients have been poorly characterized. The aim of this study was to determine the injury characteristics of these patients.

Methods

We reviewed the medical records of all patients who were transferred to the Emergency Room due to jumping or falling from bridges over Han River between 2011 and 2015.

Results

A total of 203 patients were included. Among them, 14 (6.9%) patients were dead on arrival, 51 (25.1%) patients were expired in the hospital, and 138 (70%) patients were discharged alive, including a patient who had severe neurologic sequelae after resuscitation. Skeletal and internal organ injuries were identified based on radiologic images. The most injured organ was thorax (58.1%), followed by spine (23.1%), abdomen (11.1%), extremity (7.7%), and cranium (5.2%). Chest tubing for pneumothorax or hemothorax was performed in four (2.9%) patients. Surgical intervention was needed for four patients (2.9%).

Conclusion

Trauma patterns were concentrating on the thorax and spine regions. Therefore, complete radiographic evaluation should be performed for these patients.