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A catchment area study of suicides in Waterford in 1990

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Anne-Marie O'Dwyer ,
Noel P Sheppard ,
Maurice N Murphy  and
Richard Horgan
Anne-Marie O'Dwyer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Waterford Regional Hospital, Waterford, Ireland
Noel P Sheppard
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Waterford Regional Hospital, Waterford, Ireland
Maurice N Murphy
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Waterford Regional Hospital, Waterford, Ireland
Richard Horgan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Waterford Regional Hospital, Waterford, Ireland
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Abstract

Objective: To survey suicides occurring in Waterford City and County in 1990, to calculate a suicide rate for the region and to examine a series of drownings which occurred during the study period. Method: A catchment area study was carried out with information being collected from coroner's reports, police records, postmortem reports and other sources. Cases were defined by clinical criteria. Results: 13 males and 1 female were considered to have died by suicide, giving an estimated suicide rate of 15 per 100,000. Demographic characteristics and prevalence of psychiatric morbidity conformed broadly to national trends. Conclusion: Structuring a study to deal with suicides within a particular catchment area allows ready access to detailed information from local sources and yields information of special interest and significance to the psychiatric services of the area. Study of a series of drownings in young adult males in 1990 which had aroused much local concern illustrates the difficulties in categorising deaths accurately by this method.

Keywords

SuicideCatchment areaDrownings
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , November 1992 , pp. 108 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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