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Objectives: To review the changes in suicide and undetermined death rates in Grampian between 1991-1999 and to make comparisons with a previous study on the same population., Design: All suicide and undetermined deaths in Grampian recorded by the General Register Office for Scotland were included and linked with the psychiatric case records from Grampian Health Board., Results: The high suicide and undetermined death rates in Grampian are accounted for by the excess of deaths in males. In males there has been a change in the method used to commit suicide with hanging now being the commonest method used. Firearm deaths have reduced dramatically since legislation was introduced in 1997 (RR = 021,95% CI [0.05,0.91). For those with previous psychiatric contact, a greater proportion were drug users than in 1974-1990 (OR = 3.75,95%CI [2.7, 5.2]). A higher percentage of suicides have a history of more than one previous attempt at suicide than in 1974-990. In Grampian there is a lower percentage of inpatient suicide than the rest of Scotland., Conclusion: There have been changes in suicide trends in Grampian and these are similar to elsewhere in Scotland Strategies to address this are discussed.

Objectives: Examination of rates of suicide and undetermined deaths in one health board area between 1974 and 1990. Data are presented on contacts between decreased individuals and the psychiatric and clinical psychology services and general practice., Design: Retrospective analysis of data from psychiatric, clinical psychology and general practice case records, and from the General Register Office for Scotland., Subjects: Deaths by suicide, undetermined causes and accidental poisoning., Results: Male suicide rates increased by 25% in the period studied. Rates in females declined by 65%. There was a small decrease in rates of death by undetermined causes in both sexes. 46% of those dying by suicide and 41% of those dying by undetermined causes had current or past contact with the Psychiatric Services., Conclusion: The study offers data on suicide to allow planning of measures to achieve national targets for reduction in suicide rates.

Two cohorts of anorexia nervosa patients were followed up for a mean of 20 years. All except 4% of each cohort was traced. The crude mortalities were: St George's, 4%; Aberdeen, 13%. The SMRs were: St George's, 136; Aberdeen, 471. If the untraced were assumed to be dead, crude mortalities were 7.6% and 15.9% respectively, and SMRs were 276 and 592 respectively. Causes of death were complications of the illness and suicide. Medical treatment may reduce early mortality, while comprehensive medical and psychotherapeutic treatment may reduce late mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]