Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
4
pubmed:dateCreated
1996-1-18
pubmed:abstractText
This study investigates the under-reporting of suicide with particular reference to differences between sex and age groups and the various modes of suicide. The study was performed retrospectively using the files of H M Coroner for South Yorkshire (West) over the years 1985 to 1991. There were 536 deaths judged on the balance of probability to be suicidal in nature. Only 60 per cent of these deaths received a suicide verdict and would therefore register in official suicide statistics. A significantly smaller proportion of females (51.7 per cent) received a suicide verdict than males (64.5 per cent). Of the young females (< 45) 61.7 per cent were given a suicide verdict compared to 46.6 per cent of older females (45+). These differences are explained by different preferences for mode of suicide, in particular for poisoning using solids or liquids. Only 40 per cent of cases within this category received a suicide verdict. Drowning showed an even smaller percentage (24 per cent). Self-immolation (42 per cent) and jumping from a height (51 per cent) were also under-represented. Of these, self-poisoning, drowning and jumping from a height were relatively popular among females. In contrast, common causes of death favoured predominantly by males--hanging and carbon monoxide poisoning--received a high percentage of suicide verdicts (81 per cent and 90 per cent). Thus official suicide statistics produce a distorted view of the suicide population with relative under-reporting of females, particularly older females, and marked under-reporting of some causes of death, notably poisoning using solids or liquids, drowning, self-immolation and jumping from a height.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
0025-8024
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
35
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
319-26
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1995
pubmed:articleTitle
The coroner's system and under-reporting of suicide.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Pathology, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article