Suicidal ideation in acutely medically ill elderly inpatients: prevalence, correlates and longitudinal stability.
BACKGROUND
Suicidal ideation among acutely medically ill elderly inpatients has been sparsely studied. A prospective study measuring the prevalence, correlates and longitudinal stability of suicidal ideation in acutely medically ill elderly inpatients was undertaken.


METHODS
Suicidal ideation was measured using the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSSI) and the items of pessimism, life not worth living and a wish to die on the Brief Assessment Schedule (BAS). Formal measures of physical illness, functional disability and handicap were also used. Patients were seen at the outset and at about 6 months.


RESULTS
The prevalence of suicidal ideation on the BSSI and the BAS items of pessimism, life not worth living and a wish to die were 36%, 60%, 33% and 22%, respectively. These four variables were significantly inter-correlated. The BSSI was significantly associated with BAS depression scores (P=0.0001), BAS depression caseness (P=0.0001) and prescription of antidepressants (P=0.007). Similar results were ascertained for the BAS items of pessimism, life not worth living and a wish to die.


CONCLUSIONS
Further studies examining the longitudinal stability of suicidal ideation coupled with intervention studies to reduce suicidal ideation are required.
Shah
A
A
Imperial College School of Medicine, London, UK. a.k.shah@ic.ac.uk
Hoxey
K
K
Mayadunne
V
V
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission; D010555:Personality Inventory; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012803:Sick Role; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data