Repetition of suicidal behaviour in elderly Europeans: a prospective longitudinal study.

The aim of this study was to assess any predictive factors for repeated attempted suicide and completed suicide in a 1-year follow-up on a sample of elderly European suicide attempters (60 years and over). From 1990 to 1993, 63 subjects completed the first interview and were recontacted after 1 year. At follow-up, eight subjects (12.7%) had taken their lives and seven (11.1%) had repeated at least one suicide attempt. On comparison of repeaters and non-repeaters, differences emerged in terms of death of the father in childhood and for mean Suicidal Intent Score. At the end of follow-up period, repeaters reported a more frequent desire to repeat suicidal behaviour and judged their mental health and social assistance received to be worse. Suicides and non-repeaters differed especially in relation to death of father during childhood and number of contacts with General Practitioner. Interpretation of the results must take into account the smallness of the test sample, the difficulties in obtaining complete data for the follow-up interview, the lack of a control group and a diagnosis formulated in a hospital consultation setting. The study confirms, however, the high risk of repetition of suicidal behaviour in the elderly. In old age suicidal ideation is often sustained over long periods of time and requests for help are addressed to relatives and GPs. An interesting finding is the more frequent death of the father during childhood among repeaters.

Death ideation and its correlates: survey of an over-65-year-old population.

The presence of dissatisfaction with life or thoughts of death or suicide has been variously surveyed in adolescent samples and in the general population, but there is a paucity of research on the elderly. The aim of this study was to assess, in an elderly community-dwelling population: a) the prevalence of death and/or suicidal feelings and thoughts and any attempted suicides; and b) factors associated with these experiences. A total of 611 over-65-year-old subjects were interviewed at home. Seventeen percent of the total (F:M = almost 2:1) responded affirmatively to at least one of the questions on suicidality. Elderly people reporting suicidal feelings presented markedly higher levels of physical and psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, and hostility. Results indirectly confirm that depressive symptomatology is not adequately treated. Greater attention is warranted in psychological evaluation of the elderly to take into account those risk factors that, if identified and managed, could reduce the frequency of suicidal thoughts and, probably, associated actions.