title: Suicide in schizophrenia: A fourteen-year survey in an English health district.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To determine the suicide rate among patients with schizophrenia within the Rotherham health district and identify any possible risk factors for suicide in this population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective survey of the Coroner's data and of the psychiatric records within both the community and hospital-based psychiatric services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven suicides were identified during the years 1984-1997 who had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. This represents a suicide rate of between 86 and 280 per 100 000, depending on the prevalence of schizophrenia within the population. This is 8-27 times as high as the rate for the general population of the district.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Suicide in schizophrenia remains an uncommon event despite the increased risk. This presents problems for the assessment of the efficacy of suicide prevention strategies at the level of the average-sized health district or psychiatric department. (Int J Psych Clin Pract 2000; 4:143-146).
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: T Abed Girish Vaidya Ian Baker