Reacción a "Mondays and New Year's Day have a higher risk of suicide, says international study"

Why is it important to study which days of the week or holiday periods have a higher risk of suicide? 'It is of great relevance to study the risk factors in order to carry out adequate prevention with a greater focus on the most vulnerable population. In this line, resource management could also benefit from the results, since it is possible to identify the times when more resources are required and to provide them to the population. Another relevant aspect of studying the day of the week with the highest risk of suicide is the possibility of rethinking our lifestyle in relation to the routines we have, both at an educational and work level. Returning to the issue of prevention and in line with the finding of an increased risk of suicide on holidays such as New Year, it can be of great help in developing prevention programmes and campaigns on these dates, as well as providing a greater number of tools and resources for care on these holidays to people who are at risk of suicidal behaviour’.

Is the study of good quality? ‘It is a good quality study because it includes the analysis of several countries with cultural differences, which helps us to reach more global and inclusive conclusions. It also looks at various time periods, which helps to take into consideration different historical moments, both in terms of social events and also the passage of time as people grow older. Another interesting feature of this study is the size of the sample: this article analyses 1,701,286 cases. Such a large sample in the field of suicide is to be welcomed, as it is not usually easy to collect and access these data due to the sensitivity of the subject and also because, in some cases, records are not kept in a clear, timely and adequate manner'.

Do you have any notable limitations? ‘I would like to highlight one of the main limitations mentioned by the authors; caution is needed when interpreting the results as, although they include many countries, it is not advisable to extrapolate them because it is necessary to take into consideration different cultural characteristics, different ways of relating, variability in dates of festivities, diversity of religions and beliefs, and a wide range of health systems, as well as different protocols for the collection of suicide data’.