38 - Suicide/undetermined by poison
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 April 2023
Summary
This category includes deaths due to poisoning 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.
See also Map 19 Deaths due to drugs.
As with many other causes of death, Scotland, and Glasgow in particular, has the highest SMRs. Further clusters are found in Brighton, Manchester and south London, the remainder of the country showing a north–south divide.
This category includes people who have taken their lives, intentionally or with undetermined intent, by ingesting drugs or other poisons of some kind. This might include over-the-counter drugs such as paracetamol, or illegal drugs such as heroin, and other chemicals such as pesticides and household chemicals.
These deaths are evenly distributed among males and females in terms of total numbers (51% and 49% respectively) although the age distributions are different, with more males dying of this cause at a younger age. Rates from this one group of causes peaked at ages 35–39 for men and at 50–54 for women over the period as a whole.
Alan Turing, a mathematician and code-breaker who worked at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, and Cleopatra (69 BC–30 BC) died from this cause.
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- The Grim Reaper's Road MapAn Atlas of Mortality in Britain, pp. 78 - 79Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2008