CSO figures on suicide are not comprehensive

Regarding the article on suicide in the Irish Examiner last Saturday, I would like to point out that the figures on suicide for 2012 released by the Central Statistics Office last week are only preliminary figures, and I would recommend caution in interpreting them.

The final figures might only be available in 2014 or 2015, a delay with consequences, that requires change.

It was for this reason that the National Suicide Research Foundation developed the Suicide Support and Information System (SSIS) real-time register of suicides. With funding from the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), the SSIS was a collaboration with coroners in Cork City and County, between September 2008 and March 2011, and covered all deaths by suicide.

Information associated with the death, and the deceased, was obtained in an appropriately sensitive and confidential manner from coroners, the family, and healthcare professionals who had been in contact with the deceased.

The SSIS obtains information on suicide at least two years earlier than the CSO. The SSIS also provides in-depth information on patterns and risk factors for suicide, such as the identification of a large cluster of suicide among young men in a small area in Cork.

The first Report of the Suicide Support and Information System was published last year and can be accessed at: www.nsrf.ie.

In collaboration with the NOSP, further steps are being undertaken to implement this system in other regions in the country.

Prof Ella Arensman

Director of research, National Suicide Research Foundation

Adjunct-professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health

University College Cork