Citation

Corcoran P, Arensman E, O'Mahony D. Crisis 2006; 27(3): 130-134.

Affiliation

National Suicide Research Foundation, Cork, Ireland. paul.nsrf@iol.ie

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

17091823

Abstract

There are two sets of annual mortality statistics released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland, one based on deaths registered in the particular year and the other based on the deaths that occurred in that year. We compared the registration and occurrence figures for suicide and for other deaths by an external cause for the years 1987-2003. The occurrence figures were, on average, 6% higher than the registration figures. There was evidence that the extent of the discrepancy increased over the study period, reaching almost 20% in recent years. The findings suggest that caution needs to be taken in the media reporting of registration figures for suicide and other external causes of death in Ireland and in the interpretation of these figures by health professionals.

Language: en