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Biomedical subjects

Tamás Zonda

Publications and source records attributed to Tamás Zonda.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

One-hundred cases of suicide in Budapest: a case-controlled psychological autopsy study.

UNLABELLED: The authors performed a case-controlled psychological autopsy study of 100 successive suicides in Budapest, examining the presence of major depression, alcohol, and drug and/or medicament dependency/ abuse according to DSM-IV. The presence of somatic diseases, psychosocial stress, oppressive experiences, and interpersonal relationship disorders within the period of 1 month previous to death was also examined. The control group of 100 people who died of natural causes was identical with the suicide group in respect of number, sex, and age. RESULTS: Among those committing suicide, psychosocial stress, oppressive experiences, and interpersonal relationship disorders were much more frequent and behavioral changes occurred more often in the weeks preceding death compared to the control group. A single suicide attempt during one's life span did not prove to be predictive for a later fatal action, but multiple attempts did. Major depression was diagnosed in 36% of the cases in the suicide group and 17% in the control group. Half of major-depressed suicides (18 persons) and almost all in the control group (16 persons) suffered from reactive (secondary) major depression as a result of somatic disease. Severe alcoholism was found in 33% of the suicide cases and in 44% of the control group. Drug and/or medicament consumption (misuse and/or abuse) occurred in 14% and 8% of the cases, respectively. The data emphasize again that alcoholism seems to be one of the most serious problems in Hungary both in psychological and somatic illnesses.

Adult↗

Seasonal fluctuation of suicide in Hungary between 1970-2000.

The authors studied the seasonal fluctuation of suicide events in Hungary in a 31-year period. A summer maximum and a winter minimum were found in both genders. A second autumn peak did not occur among women. The suicide rate of Hungary fell markedly in 1998, parallel with the fundamental political-economical-social changes in the country. After 1988 the ANOVA statistic did show a moderate decrease in the seasonal fluctuation but only among those under 29 years of age. This young generation was the real "winner" of the deep social changes which suggests an indirect connection between the decrease of the seasonal fluctuation of suicide and the socio-political changes.

Adult↗

[The effect of public holidays on the suicide drive (frequency) in Hungary (1970-2002)].

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between suicide frequency and the days of the week and major public holidays in Hungary (1970-2002). The analysis was based on data of approximately 140,000 suicides. The authors intended to examine whether the "broken promise effect" (Gabennesch), which is cited with increasing frequency in the literature, is valid also in Hungary or not. RESULTS: Suicides occur most frequently on Monday and least on weekends for both males and females. On the days of Christmas and Easter the suicide drive has decreased among males only. The first day of the year is associated with a large increase of suicide risk in both genders, while there appears to be no change in suicide-frequency on the public holidays of 1st May and 20th August. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study confirm the validity of the "broken-promise effect" theory also under Hungarian circumstances. It is a very important to know that suicides do not show an increase on and before weekend and public holidays, but after the following day(s). This finding can be an important aspect when preventive measures are adopted.

Adult↗

Seasonality of suicide in Eastern Europe: a rejoinder to Lester and Moksony .

Seasonality of suicide in Hungary decreased from the 1980s to the 1990s, supporting the 2003 conclusion of Lester and Moksony. However, it was the strongest ever to be documented with contemporary suicide data, supporting the conjecture of Voracek, et al. (2002) that seasonality of suicide remains high in Eastern Europe. A new hypothesis regarding the co-occurrence of high incidence and strong seasonality of suicide is presented.

Europe, Eastern↗