Suicide Deaths in Northern Ireland: Medication and Health Service Use
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Suicide Deaths in Northern Ireland: Medication and Health Service Use
IRAS ID
215148
Contact name
Siobhan O'Neill
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Ulster University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
This research will use a linked dataset to examine the medicine and health service use of people who have died because of suicide in Northern Ireland between 1/1/2012 and 31/12/2015. The medications that will be considered in the study include pain and anti-depressant medication. The relationships between use of health services and suicide will also be considered. The health services considered in the study will include previous Emergency Department attendance, previous hospital admission, and whether or not the person was known to mental health services.
To facilitate the analysis, a novel dataset will be constructed by linking routinely collected administrative data across multiple systems. The data for the study is currently held on multiple health service, and general registrars, and medication prescribing databases. This part of the study will also highlight the usefulness of linking disparate datasets to gain a better understanding of suicide in Northern Ireland. It will also highlight any data quality issues or gaps in the data. Data for the study will be accessed through the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Honest Broker Service, which provides researchers with safe and ethical access to pseudonomysed data. This will ensure patient confidentiality is maintained, and data is processed securely.
Using a case-control methodology, deaths by suicide will be matched to a control group of deaths by other injury or illness. The data analysis will focus on describing the characteristics of people who have died by suicide, and identifying the risk factors for suicide. By doing so, the study will enhance the policy and practice evidence base, thus providing the insights for improved patient care and service delivery.
REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1923
Date of REC Opinion
18 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion