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Suicide patterns on the London Underground railway system, 2000–2010

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Susanna Martin  and
Muffazal Rawala
Susanna Martin*
Affiliation:
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Muffazal Rawala
Affiliation:
Luton Mental Health and Wellbeing Service, East London NHS Foundation Trust
*
smartin1@doctors.org.uk
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Abstract

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Aims and Method

Suicidal acts on underground railway networks are an area of public health concern. Our aim was to review recent epidemiological patterns of suicidal acts on the London Underground to inform future preventive interventions. Data from 2000 to 2010 were obtained from the British Transport Police via a Freedom of Information request.

Results

The mean annual rate of suicidal acts from 2000 to 2010 was 5.8 per 100 million passenger journey stages. Of those who died by suicide, 77.3% were of White Northern European ethnicity. A fifth had a history of mental illness.

Clinical implications

The widening gap between the number of recorded suicide attempts and completed suicides is encouraging. Further research is required regarding the role of drug and alcohol use, psychiatric history and area of residence. Installation of platform screen doors should be considered in future railway network expansion.

Type
Special Articles
Information
BJPsych Bulletin , Volume 41 , Issue 5 , October 2017 , pp. 275 - 280
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Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an open-access article published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 The Authors

Footnotes

Declaration of interest

None.

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