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Data Analysis and Interpretation Specialization Relationship between Alcohol consumption and suicides

In the first exercise of the Specialization Data Analysis and Interpretation of the Wesleyan University, I selected the Gapminder data set.

Then, I want to analyze the relationship between alcohol consumption and suicide per 100 thousand people in Latin America. The outcome of this investigation could bring some valuable insights to the development of public policies more efficient.

So, the research question is: Is alcohol consumption related to the rate of suicides in the region of Latin America?

This research hypothesizes that the consumption of alcohol could help people to deal with stress and depression. So, a higher level of consumption in alcohol is related to a lower rate of suicides in the countries of Latin America.

I realized a superficial search about these topics in Google Scholars, and I found a lot of papers and articles. I choose 11 related to studies in Latin America’s countries. I found 7 from Mexico, and one from Chile, Colombia, Cuba, and Uruguay. They were developed in different years, without a year in particular; the oldest article was made in 1987 and the newest was made in 2016.

All the articles present a summary of the findings. All the papers concluded that alcohol consumption presents a positive relationship with rate suicides. It is opposite to the hypothesis of this work. Also, these studies included drug consumptions as a related variable with the rate of suicides.

Terroba, Saljiteral & Corral (1987) realized an analysis based on 80 suicides of oldest than 14 years people during 1980 in Mexico. They found that 55 % of cases consumed alcohol before the suicide and 24 % were alcoholics.

Rosovsky (1991) got a sample of 37 persons who tried to suicide. The record was gotten from 8 hospitals in Mexico City. The 60 % of cases consumed alcohol before their tried.

Bailador, Viscardi & Dajas (1997) evaluate a sample of young people in high school in Montevideo, Uruguay. The authors found a positive relationship between these two variables.

García (1998) made a study of La Habana. She found that alcohol and drug consumption are related with suicides in the city.

Mondragón, Saljiteral, Bimbela & Borges (1998) continued an investigation that was being developed by the Instituto Mexicano de Psiquiatría. They found that people that consume alcohol has three more chances to try suiciding.

Gómez et all (2002) analyze the psychological profile of people who committed suicide in Colombia. They found that cases of suicides are 5.9 % more frequent in people with a high risk of alcoholism.

Ocampo, Bohórquez and Cortés (2009) consulted data from the Sistema de Vigilancia Epidemiológica de las Adicciones in Mexico. The outcome of their investigation was that suicides are related with the consumptions of substances like alcohol and drugs.

Salvo & Castro (2013) applied interviews to 763 high school students aged 14 to 19 years living in Chile. Nineteen percent of participants had attempted suicide and 34.3 % had suicidal ideation. Loneliness, impulsivity, and alcohol use were directly related to suicidal behavior.

Borges et all (2014) used a sample of 40 persons who tried to commit suicide in Mexico. The 44 % of reported cases consumed alcohol at least 6 hours before their try.

Jiménez et all (2015) analyze a sample of 63 cases of persons who tried to suicide in Mexico. They found that alcohol and drugs increase the risk of suicide try 3.7 times more than people who does not consume these substances.

Rivas et all (2016) investigated the population of Tabasco, Mexico, through interviews based on the application of the Entrevista Neuropsiquiátrica Internacional (MINI) and the AUDIT. They found that persons who are frequent alcohol consumers have 53.2 % to think about a suicide try.

References

Terroba, G.; Saltijeral, T.; & Corral, R. (1987). “El consumo de alcohol y su relación con la conducta suicida”. Mexico. Available in: http://201.131.57.75/index.php/spm/article/view/397

Rosovsky, H. (1991). “Evaluación del consumo de alcohol en los intentos de suicidio: un estudio con pacientes atendidos en servicios de urgencias”. Mexico. Available in: http://www.revistasaludmental.com/index.php/salud_mental/article/view/441

Bailador, P.; Viscardi, N. & Dajas, F. (1997). “Desesperanza, conducta suicida y consumo de alcohol y drogas en adolescentes de Montevideo”. Uruguay. Available in: https://waps.es/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Desesperanza-y-conducta-suicida.pdf

García, T. (1998). “Estudio del suicidio en la ciudad de la Habana a través de la autopsia psicológica”. Costa Rica. Available in: https://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?pid=S1409-00151998000200011&script=sci_arttext

Mondragón, L.; Saljiteral, T.; Bimbela, A. & Borges, G. (1998). Mexico. Available in: http://www.revistasaludmental.com.mx/index.php/salud_mental/article/view/718

Gómez, C. et all. (2002). “Factores asociados al intento de suicidio en la población colombiana”. Colombia. Available in: http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-74502002000400002

Ocampo, R.; Bohórquez, I. & Cortés, M. (2009). “Consumo de sustancias y suicidios en México: resultados del Sistema de Vigilancia Epidemiológica de las Adicciones, 1994-2006 “. Mexico. Available in: https://www.medigraphic.com/cgi-bin/new/resumen.cgi?IDARTICULO=25780

Salvo, L. & Castro, A. (2013). “Soledad, impulsividad, consumo de alcohol y su relación con suicidalidad en adolescentes”. Chile. Available in: https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0034-98872013000400002&script=sci_arttext&tlng=n

Borges, G. et all. (2014). “Análisis de casos y controles de los intentos de suicidio en una muestra de servicios de urgencia”. Mexico. Available in: http://repositorio.inprf.gob.mx/handle/123456789/6508

Jiménez et all. (2015). “Consumo de alcohol y drogas como factor de riesgo de intento suicida “. Mexico. Available in: https://www.medigraphic.com/cgi-bin/new/resumen.cgi?IDARTICULO=6878

Rivas, V. et all. (2016). “Relación del consumo de alcohol y trastornos mentales en habitantes de una población rural”. Mexico. Available in: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6137743