THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF SUICIDE ON THE LONDON-UNDERGROUND

A database containing details of every incident of suicidal behaviour on the London Underground railway system between 1940 and 1990 was ass embled from the records of London Underground Ltd and the British Tran sport Police. The total number of cases was 3240. The mean annual numb er of suicidal acts on the London Underground system increased from 36 .1 (1940-1949) to 94.1 (1980-1989). There were significantly fewer inc idents on Sundays than on the other days of the week and the daily rat e was highest in the spring. 64% of incidents involved males and the p eak age group for both sexes was 25-34 yr. Suicide verdicts were retur ned for a greater proportion of women than men. Overall case fatality was 55%. However, case fatality rates differed between stations, envir onmental factors appearing to influence survival. Possible strategies to prevent railway suicides and reduce the lethality of this method ar e discussed.