Suicide place of death and associated demographic characteristics: novel analysis to inform suicide prevention strategies

Purpose Suicide is a leading cause of preventable death in England and a priority for government and health systems. To reduce suicides, it is crucial to understand where suicides occur and who is most at risk. This study aims, for the first time, to investigate suicide place of death in England and the demographic that may be associated with this. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional analysis of routinely collected Office for National Statistics mortality data of 22,314 registered suicide deaths aged 10 years+ in England between 2018 and 2022 was performed. Measures included place of death (home or elsewhere), sex, age, rurality, deprivation and region of residence at time of death. Findings In total, 61.29% (CI = 60.65–61.93) of suicide deaths occurred at home. This was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than suicide deaths that occurred elsewhere (38.71%, CI = 38.07–39.35). Logistic regression analysis revealed that individuals who died from suicide at home were older (OR = 0.983, CI = 0.982–0.985, P < 0.0001) and female (OR = 1.70, CI = 1.59–1.81, P < 0.0001). A significant non-linear association was found between deaths at home, deprivation and rurality but not region of residence. Practical implications It is recommended that future research investigates the granularity of place of suicide death and vulnerable populations and that local practitioners use these findings to inform and tailor suicide prevention programmes, partnership working and resources to better prevent suicides in at-risk populations. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to use a representative, generalisable ecologically valid national sample of over 22,000 deaths to investigate suicide place of death and associated demographics in England.