One Hundred Cases of Suicide in Elderly People

Abstract

Many elderly people who commit suicide are not in close contact with primary care services; those who are may not be prescribed appropriate treatment, and few are referred for specialist care. Specialist services will fail to reduce suicide rates unless they embark upon programmes to increase public awareness of therapeutic possibilities and work more closely with primary care agencies to realise these possibilities.

Suicidal ideation and the 'wish to die' in dementia patients: the role of depression

“…Most studies of attempted [1,2] and completed suicide in elderly people [3,4] have reported few cases associated with dementia. However, in studies that have included comorbid diagnoses, dementia has been more frequently reported, being found in 14% of elderly suicides [5] and 8-26% of elderly people who have attempted suicide In most cases, depression was regarded as being the primary diagnosis.…”

Elderly suicide rates: the importance of a non-linear relationship with distal risk and protective factors

“…While much is known about proximal (individual level) risk and protective factors for elderly suicides (e.g. Conwell et al, 1991;Cattell and Jolley, 1995;Harwood et al, 2001), less is known about more distal (societal or population level) risk and protective factors (Rehkopf and Buka, 2006). Moreover, detailed knowledge of these distal factors may have greater public health relevance for the development of comprehensive prevention strategies (Knox et al, 2004).…”

Mental Disorders in Older Irish People: Incidence, Prevalence and Treatment

“…In a Dublin based study on suicide, Walsh (1965) found evidence of a pre-existing disturbance of personality or of mental health to a degree sufficient to have necessitated previous psychiatric treatment in 50 per cent of the cases examined. Cattell and Jolley (1995) found that 65 per cent of suicide cases studied had been physically ill, of which 23 per cent had been hospitalised in the previous year. Forty-three per cent had seen their general practitioner in the previous month but only 14 per cent were in contact with psychiatric services.…”

“…It has been shown that the majority of individuals who commit suicide have a psychiatric disorder at the time of death, with depression being the most common specific disorder (47-70 per cent), followed by alcohol dependence (15-27 per cent) and schizophrenia (2-12 per cent), (Robins et al 1959, DOl-pat and Riley 1960, Barraclough et al 1974, Walsh 1965, Frierson 1991, Merrill and Owens 1990. Cattell and Jolley (1995) in a more recent study of 100 consecutive coroners' inquests on people aged over 65 occurring between 1980 and 1991, in which the verdict was suicide, found similar trends. Relating the suicide cases to health service notes, they found that at least 60 per cent were clinically depressed.…”

“…In particular, such diseases as obstructive lung conditions, congestive heart failure and chronic pain syndromes, which often necessitated significant lifestyle changes, were most frequently mentioned. The importance of co-existent physical illness is well recognised as a risk factor, along with pain symptoms (Barraclough 1971, Barraclough and Hughes 1987, Cattell and Jolley 1995. Good pain control and the effective control and management of the symptoms of physical disease may go some way to preventing suicide among older people affected in this way.…”