Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29534475›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2018

Copycats in Pilot Aircraft-Assisted Suicides after the Germanwings Incident.

Tanja Laukkala, Alpo Vuorio, Robert Bor, Bruce Budowle, Pooshan Navathe, Eero Pukkala, Antti Sajantila

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Towards a Greater Understanding of Suicidal Behaviour and Its Prevention.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018
    Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Tanja LaukkalaMehiläinen Kielotie Health Centre, Vantaa 01300, Finland. tanja.laukkala@kela.fi.ORCID 0000-0002-7361-0964
Alpo VuorioDepartment of Forensic Medicine, University of Helsinki and Mehiläinen Airport Health Centre, Lentäjäntie 1 E, 01530 Vantaa, Finland. alpo.vuorio@gmail.com.
Robert BorRoyal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG, UK. robertbor@hotmail.com.
Bruce BudowleCenter for Human Identification, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA. bruce.budowle@unthsc.edu.
Pooshan NavatheThe Maitland Hospital, Maitland 2320, Australia. pooshan.navathe@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.
Eero PukkalaFaculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, 33100 Tampere, Finland. eero.pukkala@cancer.fi.
Antti SajantilaDepartment of Forensic Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland. Antti.sajantila@helsinki.fi.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Aircraft-assisted pilot suicide is a rare but serious phenomenon. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in pilot aircraft-assisted suicide risks, i.e., a copycat effect, in the U.S. and Germany after the Germanwings 2015 incident in the French Alps. Aircraft-assisted pilot suicides were searched in the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident investigation database and in the German Bundestelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU) Reports of Investigation database five years before and two years after the deliberate crash of the Germanwings flight into the French Alps in 2015. The relative risk (RR) of the aircraft-assisted pilot suicides was calculated. Two years after the incident, three out of 454 (0.66%) fatal incidents were aircraft-assisted suicides compared with six out of 1292 (0.46%) in the prior five years in the NTSB database. There were no aircraft-assisted pilot suicides in the German database during the two years after or five years prior to the Germanwings crash. The relative aircraft-assisted pilot suicide risk for the U.S. was 1.4 (95% CI 0.3-4.2) which was not statistically significant. Six of the pilots who died by suicide had told someone of their suicidal intentions. We consider changes in the rate to be within a normal variation. Responsible media coverage of aircraft incidents is important due to the large amount of publicity that these events attract.

Indexed as

Accidents, AviationCommunications MediaDatabases, FactualGermanyHumansIncidenceMalePilotsRiskSuicidal IdeationSuicide, AssistedUnited Statesaircraft-assisted pilot suicideaviation safetycopycat phenomenonWerther effect

Identifiers

PMID29534475
PMCPMC5877036

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.