39 - Suicide/undetermined by cutting
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 April 2023
Summary
This category includes deaths due to cutting that a coroner has determined as suicides, and those where the individual’s intent remains undetermined, although many such cases are likely to be unproven suicide. The undetermined account for one sixth of the total deaths here.
See also Map 18 Assault by cutting.
Four out of five deaths due to this cause are of males. The map reveals a cluster of high SMRs in Glasgow, followed by further clusters in London.
The deaths in this category are caused by cutting by using a sharp object such as a knife (often a domestic kitchen knife), razor, or broken glass. The location of the cut is often the arteries of the wrist or throat. This cutting causes exsanguination, or death by blood loss.
The age–sex bar chart illustrates the gender imbalance (81% of such deaths being of males), peaking for 30–65-year-old males; this method is not the preserve of the young or the old.
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- The Grim Reaper's Road MapAn Atlas of Mortality in Britain, pp. 80 - 81Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2008