October 6, 2011

expert reaction to BMJ editorial on Coroners’ verdicts and suicide statistics in England and Wales

A BMJ editorial suggested that official statistics on suicide rates may have omitted some cases because of changes in the way that they are recorded.

Louis Appleby, Professor of Psychiatry at the Univ of Manchester and Chair of the Government National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group, said:

“There is nothing new in finding that some probable suicides are omitted from official statistics because of doubts about the person’s intent. Coroners used to record verdicts of accident or misadventure in many such cases, now they may record a narrative verdict. There is no reason to doubt the fall in suicide in England in the last decade, though of course we should continue to examine how narrative verdicts are used.”

‘Coroners’ verdicts and suicide statistics in England and Wales’, by David Gunnell et al., published in the BMJ on Tuesday 6 October 2011.