Yeh, Ta-Chuan, Hsu, Tien-Wei, Kao, Yu-Chen, Thompson, Trevor ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9880-782X, Stubbs, Brendon, Carvalho, Andre F., Yang, Fu-Chi, Tseng, Ping-Tao, Hsu, Chih-Wei, Yu, Chia-Ling, Tu, Yu-Kang and Liang, Chih-Sung (2025) Suicide risk on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Valentine's Day: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 13:1668476. ISSN 2296-2565 (Online) (doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1668476)

Preview

PDF (Open Access Article) 51104 THOMPSON_Suicide_Risk_On_Christmas_Eve_Christmas_Day_New_Year_s_Day_And_Valentine_s_Day_(OA)_2025.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Objective
Holidays are times of celebration of family and loved ones which can be difficult for some people. This study assessed the risk of suicide on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Valentine's Day.
Methods
We searched four major electronic databases. The primary outcome was suicide deaths, and the secondary outcome was self-harm and suicide-related behaviors (SHSB). For each holiday, we calculated the risk ratio (RR) compared to regular days and the proportion of annual suicides.
Results
We included 28 studies ( n = 2,186,094). The proportion of annual suicides was 0.23% [95% confidence interval, 0.17%, 0.28%; number of studies (k) = 11] on Christmas Eve, 0.24% (0.19%, 0.29%; k = 17) on Christmas Day, 0.39% (0.31%, 048%; k = 16) on New Year's Days, and 0.27% (0.24%, 0.30%; k = 5) on Valentine's Day. Compared to regular days, suicide risk was 17% lower (RR = 0.83; 0.72, 0.96) on Christmas Day and 33% higher on New Year's Day (RR = 1.33; 1.06, 1.65) with no significant difference for Christmas Eve or Valentine's Day. This pattern of lower suicide risk on Christmas and higher risk on New Year's Day was consistent across countries. Regarding SHSB, the proportions were 0.19% on Christmas Eve, 0.21% on Christmas Day, 0.29% on New Year's Day, and 0.23% on Valentine's Day, corresponding to a lower risk on Christmas Eve (RR = 0.74; 0.57, 0.96; k = 5) and a higher risk on New Year's Day (RR = 1.17; 1.03, 1.34; k = 6), but no significant difference on Christmas Day or Valentine's Day.
Conclusion
Our study suggests that only New Year's Day appears to be a temporal hotspot for suicide across most countries.
Systematic review registration: Open Science Framework ( osf.io/7zx3d ).

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	"The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. The study was supported by grant from Tri-Service General Hospital (TSGH-D-114142). The funding source had no role in any process of our study."
Uncontrolled Keywords:	suicide, self-harm and suicide related behavior, Christmas, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development > Centre for Chronic Illness and Ageing Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2025 11:38
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51104

Actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads