Resource Tag: OLDER PEOPLE

Background: Psychoactive medications play an important role for the mental health and risk of suicidal behaviour in the oldest segment of the population (75+). A better understanding of psychoactive medication use is advocated to prevent suicide in this age group. Purpose: We investigated the risk of suicide associated with the use of psychoactive medications in the total […]

Background: It is well established that older patients with cancer have a significantly higher risk of suicide. However, a comprehensive understanding of the risk factors is lacking. In this study, we aimed to identify groups at an increased risk of suicide among patients aged ≥75 years with a previous cancer diagnosis. Material and methods: All Polish individuals […]

Suicide figures are declining globally. Most recent estimates suggest 788,000 deaths in 2015 as representative of the global mortality due to suicide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2017). Despite these changes, older adults continue to represent the segment of population most exposed to the risk of suicide nearly everywhere in the world. The gender paradox in […]

KEY POINTS Suicide rates peak in late life yet few suicide prevention interventions have been adequately evaluated and found effective. Training of clinicians and gatekeepers, brief psychotherapies for at-risk older people, and aftercare for those who have self-harmed have best evidence of effect. Strategies to improve social connectedness have shown benefits on measures of social […]

The elderly population size is growing worldwide due to the increased life expectancy of older adults (Oeppen & Vaupel, 2002). This is also affecting the number of the ”oldest” old people (80+ years; Jeune & Skythe, 2001; Shah, 2007a). Suicide rates in many countries increase with aging (Bertolote & De Leo, 2012; Shah, 2007b). Thus, prevention of suicide […]

Background: Most depressed older people in a suicidal state have mixed feelings, where the wish to live and the wish to die wage a battle. Aims: To explore and describe depressed older people’s experiences of being suicidal and their search for meaning. Method: Data were collected from 29 participants resident in the Rogaland and Vestfold districts of Norway, […]

Background: Suicide in older people is a significant public health issue with a predicted future increase. Contemporary research directs considerable attention toward physical, mental, and social risk factors that contribute to suicidality in older people; still, little is understood about the fundamental meanings that older people in suicidal crisis attribute to these factors. Aims: The aim of […]

Background: Death thoughts and wishes occur frequently among older people. In different European countries estimates of 10%-20% have been found. Aims: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of death thoughts and wishes among older people in The Netherlands. Methods: In The Netherlands 1794 people (58-98 years) were interviewed in 2005/2006 (Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam). Results: 81.3% reported never […]

Background: Quantitative studies in several European countries showed that 10-20% of older people have or have had a wish to die. Aims: To improve our understanding of why some older people develop a wish to die. Methods: In-depth interviews with people with a wish to die (n = 31) were carried out. Through open coding and inductive analysis, […]

Background: Suicide rates are highest among the elderly, yet research on suicide prevention in old age remains a much-neglected area. Aims: We carried out a systematic review to examine the results of interventions aimed at suicidal elderly persons and to identify successful strategies and areas needing further exploration. Methods: Searches through various electronic databases yielded 19 studies with […]

Background: The number of older adults is growing rapidly. This fact, combined with the high rates of suicide in later life, indicates that many more older adults will die by their own hands before rigorous trials can be conducted to fully understand the best approaches to prevent late life suicide. Aims: To disseminate key considerations for interventions […]

Background: Previous studies revealed that there was a significant increase in suicide deaths among those aged 65 and over in 2003. The peak coincided with the majority of SARS cases being reported in April 2003. Aims: In this paper we examine the mechanism of how the SARS outbreak resulted in a higher completed suicide rate especially among […]

Objectives  To examine the association between frailty and risk of suicide attempt and how risk differs based on components of frailty. Design, Setting, and Participants  This nationwide cohort study integrated databases from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) inpatient and outpatient health care services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data, and national suicide data. Participants […]

Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and associated factors among older people with visual impairments attending an eye center during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and Methods: A total of 314 older people aged 60 and above with visual impairments who attended an eye center were included in this study. This was a hospital-based […]

Objective: Suicide attempts of the older adults are known to be more serious than that of the younger adults. Despite its major social impact in South Korea, the behavioral mechanism of serious suicide attempt (SSA) in old people remains to be elucidated. Thus, we investigated the risk factors for SSA in older and younger suicide attempters […]

The unique factors which contribute to suicide actions in later life are often more difficult to recognise than contributing factors in younger individuals. Suicide thought may be passively expressed and can be triggered by the experience of existential loneliness or a sense of a ‘completed life’. This can give rise to self-neglect, particularly of one’s […]

Aim The aim of the study is to provide insight and facilitate a deeper understanding of family members who have experienced their older family member’s suicide. Design Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study. Methods Semi-structured individual interviews with five family members of older people who died by suicide recruited from a rural area of Shanxi Province, […]

Background: Self-harm is a high-risk behavior and often escalates to suicide. Among people who deliberately harm themselves, older people are more likely than younger people to die by suicide. Given that older adults are a  particularly high-risk group for suicide and self-harm is a powerful predictor of suicide in later life, understanding self-harm in older […]

Background and Objectives Suicide has become a major public health concern worldwide and in the United States. Rates of suicide increase during the life course and are highest among middle- to old-age adults. Help-seeking represents a crucial coping mechanism that can mitigate suicide risk. Yet, less is known about suicide risk help-seeking, especially among these […]

Objectives  To examine the association between frailty and risk of suicide attempt and how risk differs based on components of frailty. Design, Setting, and Participants  This nationwide cohort study integrated databases from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) inpatient and outpatient health care services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data, and national suicide data. Participants […]

Background Studies from Western countries indicated that older adults were more resilient than younger ones to deteriorating mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. As high late-life suicide rates have been reported in East Asia, it is possible that the pandemic impact might differ between East and West. We investigated the pandemic impact on age-specific suicide […]

BACKGROUND: Older adults are at risk of assisted and self-initiated suicide. The links between prior attempts and assisted suicide in the elderly have not been investigated. Hence, we aimed to investigate and describe the occurrence, timing and determinants of suicide attempts prior to assisted and self-initiated suicide. METHODS: We developed a retrospective study of all […]

Background Suicide among the elderly has become a global public health concern. This study was carried out to determine the trend of completed suicide rates according to age, sex, and ethnicity and the suicidal methods among the elderly in Malaysia. Methods All suicide-related deaths in elderly aged 60 years and above from the Year 1995 to […]