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Rapid response to:

Research Christmas 2014: Going to Extremes

The Darwin Awards: sex differences in idiotic behaviour

BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7094 (Published 11 December 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g7094

Rapid Response:

Charles Gardner raises a number of interesting points.

Without a full understanding of the nomination and selection processes it is difficult to evaluate the observed sex difference in Darwin Award winners. However, we agree that if the observed sex difference is shown to be robust to methodological and sampling issues then it has important implications for injury prevention and health education.

Competing interests: No competing interests

28 January 2015
Dennis W Lendrem
Project Manager
Newcastle University
The Medical School, Framlington Place, Newcastle NE2 4HH