THE suicide rate for men in Ireland is 20 per cent higher than in England and Wales, new research suggests. Official figures give the impression that the Irish rate is 60 per cent higher, but this is due to significant under reporting of suicide in England and Wales, according to an article in the latest Irish Medical Journal.
The female suicide rate in Ireland is slightly above that for England and Wales until allowance is made for under reporting. Then the Irish rate falls dramatically by comparison with the other two countries.
The practice in recent years of basing suicide statistics on confidential Garda reports means that the amount of under reporting in Ireland is negligible, according to the article.
In 1985, the courts ruled that Irish coroners could not pass verdicts of suicide. Over recent years, an official in the Central Statistics Office has arrived at a suicide rate by studying the confidential Garda reports.
In the UK, on the other hand, coroners still pass verdicts of suicide where this has been established "beyond a reasonable doubt". This criterion has led to many suicides being misclassified in the UK as undetermined deaths, according to the authors.
The research was carried out by Dr Michael Kelleher, a consultant psychiatrist with the Southern Health Board, Mr Paul Corcoran, a statistician, and by doctors Helen Keeley, John Dennehy and Ian O'Donnell.
While the suicide rates for women in the two jurisdictions are similar, the picture changes dramatically when the large number of verdicts of undetermined deaths in England and Wales is added to the suicide rate. When this is done, the female suicide rate in England and Wales is 55 per cent higher than in Ireland. However, the relatively small number of female suicides make these comparisons less reliable than those for men.
The authors also suggest that up to 40 per cent of the rise in the male suicide rate in Ireland in recent years may reflect the greater accuracy in classification. They suggest that the confidential Garda reports on which suicide classifications are based could be used to help prevent future suicides if they contained more information about the circumstances.