Psychiatric Hospitalisation and Suicide Among the Very old in Denmark: Population-based Register Study

Individual-level data on the entire Danish population aged 50 years or over were analysed between 1994-1998 to examine the suicide risk associated with psychiatric hospitalisation among the very old (80 years or more) compared with the middle-aged (50-64 years) & old (65-79 years) populations. Among 1978527 persons, 2323 died by suicide. The association between suicide & psychiatric hospitalisation is much weaker for the very old than for the old. (LC) (29 refs)