Spatial stastical analysis of suicidal behavior in Harris County

In previous studies, the dispersion of suicidal behavior has been found to be spatially clustered. However these studies analyzed spatial distribution of suicidal behavior at state or national level. Looking at the spatial distribution of suicide in a smaller geographical region has not been previously done so this study sought to determine what the spatial distribution of suicidal behavior is at the county level. ^ The spatial distribution was determined using data from the CIRT which is the crisis intervention team of the Harris County Police Department. The techniques to determine the spatial distribution of suicidal behavior were spatial point pattern analysis and lattice data analysis. For spatial point pattern analysis the K, G, and F function were computed. For lattice data analysis the Geary\u27s C and Moran\u27s I was computed. Also the difference of K function was measured for each year (2011-2014) to see if there was a difference in spatial distribution from one year to the next. ^ Both analyses found that suicidal behavior was clustered in Harris County. Also the K difference functions showed that there was no difference in spatial distribution of suicidal behavior from one year to the next. Future studies can analyze these clusters to see if there is common trend between them.