Year: 2009 Source: International Psychogeriatrics, v.21, no.1, (2009), p.204-205 SIEC No: 20090758

In this letter to the editor, the authors discuss a cross-national study they did to examine the relationship between elderly suicide rates & the affordability of psychotropic medications. Contrary to earlier reports which found a decline in elderly suicide rates with an increase in prescription rates of antidepressants, an absence of correlation between the affordability index & elderly suicide rates was found in this study. Reasons for the contradictory results are discussed. (6 refs.)