Late-life suicide: a review.
Suicide ranked as the ninth leading cause of death in the United States in 1992, with persons over the age of 65 years being at the highest risk. Suicidologists predict a dramatic increase in both the rate and the total number of late-life suicides over the next three decades, highlighting the urgent need for prevention and treatment strategies specifically targeting at-risk older individuals. Comprehensive Medline and PsycLit searches of elderly suicide (and various synonyms thereof) were conducted for English-language publications dating back to 1989, and the bibliographies in these sources were examined for additional publications. An overview of the epidemiology, biology, psychopathology, and frequent medical concomitants of late-life suicide is presented here. Innovative preventive strategies are also briefly summarized. It is concluded that further investigation is needed in several areas: the neurobiology of aging, affective disorders, and suicide; the complex interactions between somatic and psychiatric illnesses; personality traits that may confer vulnerability to suicide in late life; and age-related variations in the prevalence and phenomenology of Axis I psychopathology in suicide victims.
Bharucha
A J
AJ
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, USA.
Satlin
A
A
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors