A study of 1862 postmortem examinations of suicides carried out in north west London over a 20 year period from 1957–1977 to assess and compare significant mental and physical disease present in differing age groups. Twenty per cent of autopsies revealed significant physical disease, the majority of suicides being a relatively younger, physically healthy group.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlvarezA. (1971) The Savage God: A Study of Suicide, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson p. 69.
2.
EditorialB.M.J. (1977) Accident or Suicide?B.M.J.2, 212–213.
3.
BarracloughB. (1974) A hundred cases of suicide: clinical aspects. Br. J. Psychiat.125, 355–373.
4.
BrandtR. B. (1975) The morality and rationality of suicide. In: A Handbook for the Study of Suicide, New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 61–76.
5.
HassalC.TrethowanW. H. (1972) Suicide in Birmingham. B.M.J.1, 717.
6.
PatelN. S. (1973) Pathology of suicide. Med. Sci. Law13, 103–109.
7.
Registrar General (1975) Review of the Registrar General on deaths by sex and age in the areas of England and Wales. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, DH5, No. 2.
8.
RobinsE. (1959) Some clinical considerations in the prevention of suicide based on a study of 134 successful suicides. Am. J. Public Health49, 888–98.
9.
RosenG. (1975) History. In: A Handbook for the Study of Suicides, New York, Oxford University Press pp. 3–29.
10.
SainsburyP. (1955) Suicide in London, London, Chapman and Hall
11.
SainsburyP. (1973) Suicide: opinions and facts. Proc. Roy. Soc. Med.66, 579–587.
12.
SainsburyP. (1978) Clinical aspects of suicide and its prevention. Brit. J. Hosp. Med.19, 156–164.
13.
StengelE. (1970) Suicide and Attempted Suicide, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
14.
StewartI. (1960) Suicide. The influence of organic disease. Lancet1, 919.
15.
World Health Organization (1968). World Health Statistics Report. Geneva 21 No. 6.