A consecutive series of prison suicides in Scotland between 1970 and 1982 was examined. The initial phase of imprisonment was found to be the most vulnerable stage of confinement, with almost two-thirds of the deaths having taken place within the first month. A disproportionately high number were found to be on remand. A history of some form of psychiatric involvement was common, and a third of the group had received previous psychiatric inpatient treatment. In contrast to results from general population studies, there was little evidence to link suicide with a history of depressive illness. A record of problems with either alcohol or drug dependence was found in almost half the cases. The importance of general measures designed to reduce stress and promote coping mechanisms is emphasised.

Summary:A case is described in which a young woman undergoing treatment for anorexia nervosa developed gastric dilatation and acute pancreatitis. Two previous reports have described these as complications of anorexia nervosa and in view of this case attention is drawn to a possible association between these conditions. The importance of monitoring the anorectic patient's clinical state during the early phase of treatment is stressed.

Summary. This study reports findings of the first Scottish comparison between suicide and undetermined deaths on a number of sociodemographic and psychiatric variables, and also in relation to the method of death. Logistic regression analysis confirmed that method was the most powerful and significant discriminator (88% of 'active' deaths were labelled suicide compared to only 54% of drowning) and also pointed to an interaction between gender and age. The two types of death could not be differentiated by marital status, previous psychiatric contact or social class. Time interval between psychiatric contact and death was not significantly associated with classification of death. The authors conclude that evidence concerning the aetiological significance of prior parasuicide and psychiatric illness in suicide remains valid. The alternative social construction hypothesis, namely that these are criteria used by officials to label an ambiguous death as suicide, finds no support.

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