A study of suicides in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, for the year period spanning 2000–2005

Abstract

This study reports on 60 cases of suicide in Londonderry, Northern Ireland from January 2000 to December 2005. The research focused on a number of factors associated with the occurrence of suicide. These included age, gender, employment status, method used and possible predisposing factors. Additionally, the seasonality of occurrence was also investigated. Notably, over the period of the study, the number of suicides almost doubled. The results demonstrated that 83.3% of suicides were male. The largest proportion of these, over one third, occurred in men between the ages 21 and 30 years. This high rate of young male suicides was in marked contrast to any other group. The most frequent method of suicide recorded in this study was hanging (55%). The next most frequent methods were drowning (25%) and overdose (13.3%). Three times as many males (6) overdosed compared to females.