title: Elderly suicide attempters by self-poisoning in Korea.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Suicide is a major public health concern. The elderly have the highest rate of suicide and they make more lethal suicide attempts and have fewer psychiatric interventions than young people. Furthermore, they have old-age specific psychosocial difficulties. The present study investigated psychosocial risk factors and characteristics of an index suicide attempt of the elderly suicide attempters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects included 388 patients who were admitted to the emergency room following self-poisoning. Two age groups were defined: younger patients (aged less than 65 years) and older patients (aged over 65 years). Data including demographic factors, suicidal risk factors and information about the current suicide attempt were obtained from a retrospective chart review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of suicide attempters over the age of 65 years old was 57, and their mean age was 73.5 ± 7.5 years. The elderly patients had more underlying medical illnesses than the under-65 group (p < 0.001). Depression was the most common psychiatric diagnosis. Psychotropics were the most commonly ingested drugs in both groups, but the use of pesticides was more notable in the elderly. The elderly suicide attempters had higher risk-rating scores (p < 0.001) and lower rescue-rating scores (p = 0.014) than the under-65 group. Male-to-female ratio of the elderly group was nearly 1:1 unlike the under-65 group (p = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elderly suicide attempters had different psychosocial stressors such as physical illness and more lethal suicide attempts. Our study suggests the need for development of specific preventive strategies and management guidelines for the elderly suicide attempters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yoo-Ra
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyoung Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Youngmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Hae-Kook
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yong-Sil
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kweon
authors.forename: Chung Tai
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyoung-Uk
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted