Publications

While death may be inevitable for some children, the experience of living with life-shortening illness, and of dying, is not fixed. There is much that can be done to improve both the lives and the deaths of these children, their families and their communities. This...

Suicide is a leading cause of mortality in young people globally. A history of prior self-harm, with or without suicidal intent, is associated with increased risks of future suicide attempts or suicides. This NCMD research paper uses conditional logistic regression to...

Every child suicide is a tragedy, with far-reaching consequences for families, communities, and society as a whole. It is one of the leading causes of death in young people, with a rate of 1.8 per 100,000 9-17 year olds. As professionals involved in the investigation...

Consanguinity is associated with an increased risk of autosomal-recessive conditions. Factors such as low awareness of available services, language barriers, cultural considerations, and variation in how services are offered contribute to reduced rates of perinatal...

In Great Britain, an estimated 4% of road deaths occur among children under 16 years-old. Previous research has often focused on individual-level risk factors, with less attention to the broader social, environmental and system-level determinants shaping child road...

The aim of this study was to use the NCMD's unique dataset to report on any changes, and characteristics of children dying by suicide in England, before, and during the COVID pandemic. It finds that, in England, suicide rates do not appear to be increasing, and the...

This study examines NCMD casefiles of children in England who were fatally stabbed between 2019 and 2024, focusing on their prior experiences of violence and adversity, with the aim of identifying missed opportunities for earlier intervention. Casefile analysis...