Suicide by middle-aged men
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Suicide by middle-aged men
IRAS ID
255320
Contact name
Louis Appleby
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6787610, University of Manchester Data Protection; 8D594/ECC0020, NHS Information Governance Toolkit
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
Since the early 1990s men have accounted for around 75% of all suicides and across the UK, male suicide rates are consistently higher than female rates. UK data from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) show that the average number of deaths by suicide annually is 561 in men aged 40-44, 516 in those aged 45-49, and 441 in those aged 50-54. In total, this is an average of 1,500 deaths per year in middle-aged men (aged 40-54 years). Generally, the increase in the male suicide rate in those aged 45-54 in England has been maintained year on year since around 2006 – a rise of 17%.
The particularly high rate of suicide in middle-aged men has led to recommendations to focus on and consider the prevention needs of this high risk group, particularly as they are often not in contact with services. This study will combine multiple sources of information to examine factors related to suicide in this hard-to-reach group. More specifically, the study objectives are to examine the characteristics of middle-aged men who die by suicide, determine how frequently suicide is preceded by factors more often associated with suicide by men than by women, examine the role of support services and make recommendations to strengthen suicide prevention for middle-aged men.
This will be a UK wide, multi-agency study. We will combine available data from official bodies: coroner inquest hearings/police sudden death reports, criminal justice reports, safeguarding adult reviews, NCISH data and Serious Incident reports. Data will be extracted from these sources onto a standardised database for analysis. The study findings will be published as a report on the NCISH website in 2020 with associated infographics, and short videos of the key messages. Additional outputs may include academic papers in peer-reviewed journals.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0156
Date of REC Opinion
25 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion