Medical illness, medication use and suicide in seniors: a population-based case control study

Abstract

This study is consistent with previous studies that have identified a relationship between medical or psychiatric co-morbidity and suicide in seniors. In addition, new and potentially useful information confirms that certain types and dosages of benzodiazepines are harmful to seniors and their use should be avoided.

Physical diseases as predictors of suicide in older adults: a nationwide, register-based cohort study

“…stroke, and hemiplegia, were found to have elevated suicide risks over the three-year period after diagnosis and for women also in the longer term. Previous studies have noted an association between suicide and stroke in older adults [10,15]. Also, myocardial infarct has been noted to occur frequently among older adults dying by suicide [36].…”

“…However, physical diseases have in controlled studies been linked to late life suicide, such as cancer and malignancy [7][8][9][10][11][12], chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders (COPD) [13], dementia [14], heart diseases [13], liver diseases [10], seizure disorders [13], stroke [10,15,16], and visual impairment [8]. In studies including younger age groups, additional diseases have been linked to suicidal behaviour, for example, AIDS [17], arthritis [18], diabetes [19], epilepsy [19,20], multiple sclerosis [21][22][23], myocardial infarct [24], peptic ulcers [25], and renal disease [25].…”

“…selection bias due to small sample sizes [8][9][10]12], selected study samples [9], non-representative or absence of control groups [7,36], which obstruct the interpretation and comparison of the findings across studies. Nationwide, retrospective cohort data will enable an overview to identify whether specific physical diseases are linked to elevated risks of suicide with the perspective of developing strategies for interventions, e.g.…”

Comparative Safety of Benzodiazepines and Opioids Among Veterans Affairs Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

“…Substance use disorders (excluding tobacco), mental health disorders, and medical diagnoses documented in the year before and 3 months after the index date were identified using ICD-9-CM codes (Voaklander et al, 2008;Braden et al, 2010;Dunn et al, 2010). Mental health comorbidity was determined by classifying patients with depressive, bipolar, anxiety (excluding PTSD), and/or psychotic disorder diagnoses and summing the number of diagnostic groups for each patient; patients were then categorized into 3 groups: (1) 0 comorbid diagnosis, (2) 1 comorbid diagnosis, and (3) 2 or more comorbid diagnoses.…”

Improving Antidepressant Adherence and Depression Outcomes in Primary Care: The Treatment Initiation and Participation (TIP) Program

“…[1] Later-life depression is associated with increased disability, [2] poor medical outcomes, risk of decline in cognition, and compromised quality of life. [3, 4] Depression, specifically, worsens the outcomes of many medical disorders and increases the risk of falls [5], suicide[6] and non-suicide mortality. [7] Effective treatment has a positive outcome beyond just the amelioration of depressive symptoms; it is associated with improved physical functioning, reduced disabilities in day to day functioning , [8] improved self-efficacy, [9] and reduced mortality.…”