Descriptive characteristics of suicide articles in Tamil Nadu in 2016 and 2023
| Characteristics | 2016 (n=1681) | 2023 (n=512) | Difference (2023–2016) | P value | ||
| Section of newspaper | N | % (95% CI) | N | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | |
| Main section | 1455 | 86.6 (84.9, 88.2) | 421 | 82.2 (78.9, 85.5) | −4.3 (-0.6, 8.0) | 0.0147 |
| Supplement | 226 | 13.4 (11.8, 15.1) | 90 | 17.6 (14.3, 20.9) | 4.1 (0.5 7.8) | 0.0197 |
| Number of sentences | ||||||
| <11 sentences | 916 | 54.5 (52.1, 56.9) | 241 | 47.1 (42.7, 51.4) | −7.4 (-2.5, 12.4) | 0.0032 |
| 11–20 sentences | 585 | 34.8 (32.5, 37.1) | 204 | 39.8 (35.6, 44.1) | 5 (0.2, 9.9) | 0.0374 |
| >20 sentences | 179 | 10.6 (9.2, 12.1) | 67 | 13.1 (10.2,16.0) | 2.4 (0.8, 5.7) | 0.126 |
| Mean number of sentences | 11.6 | 11.6 (11.2, 12.0) | 13.4 | 13.4 (12.5,14.4) | 1.8 (0.9, 2.7) | <0.001 |
| Average number of articles per newspaper, per day | 0.87 | (0.84, 0.89) | 0.95 | (0.90, 0.99) | −0.08 (-0.02, 0.14) | 0.005 |
| Primary focus of article | ||||||
| Report of suicide event(s) | 1613 | 96 (95, 96.9) | 478 | 93.4 (91.2, 95.5) | −2.6 (-0.2, 4.9) | 0.0146 |
| Commentary on an aspect of suicide | 68 | 4.0 (3.1, 5.0) | 34 | 6.6 (4.5, 8.8) | 2.6 (0.2, 4.9) | 0.0146 |
| Type of suicide events covered (among those who reported suicide events) | ||||||
| Suicide death events | 1249 | 77.4 (75.4, 79.5) | 407 | 85.1 (82, 88.3) | 7.7 (3.9, 11.5) | <0.001 |
| Non-fatal suicide attempt events | 351 | 21.8 (19.7, 23.8) | 83 | 17.4 (14, 20.8) | −4.4 (-0.4, 8.3) | 0.0374 |
| Suicidal ideation/threat events | 33 | 2.0 (1.4, 2.7) | 1 | 0.2 (-0.2, 0.6) | −1.8 (−1.0, 2.6) | 0.0053 |
| Suicide event is situated within a story of homicide-suicide or suicide pact (among event articles) | ||||||
| Homicide-suicide event | 157 | 9.7 (8.3, 11.2) | 57 | 11.9 (9.0, 14.8) | 2.2 (-5.4,1.1) | 0.1651 |
| Suicide pact event | 209 | 13 (11.3, 14.6) | 54 | 11.3 (8.5, 14.1) | −1.7 (-1.6,4.9) | 0.3364 |