Hotel room suicide: Las Vegas and Clark County

Our objective is to study the link between hotel registration and suicide. Clark County, which contains Las Vegas, drew our interest because of its extremely large number of hotel rooms. Case files of suicide from the Clark County Coroner were reviewed for years 2003–2005. The suicide rate of local residents registering in local hotels was 271/100,000. This is greater than the suicide rate in the general population of Clark County, 16.6/100,000, P < 0.0001, Poisson distribution. Hotel guests from outside Clark County had a reduced rate of suicide, 4.6/100,000, P < 0.0001. Residents of Clark County registering in local hotels have an increased suicide risk that is statistically significant. Possible explanations for the results are provided.