In this correspondence Salib et al. comments on the report by Bennewith et al. which undertook a detailed assessment of a sample of all suicides by hanging in a defined geographical area over a 6-month period & focussed on potentially preventable aspects of these deaths. Salib et al. discusses how the sample of 162 people contained at least 25 victims over the age of 64, a sizeable older element yet not referred to in the report. A response from Bennewith et al. explaining their reasons for what was given in the report is included. (LC) (4 refs)