The healthier nation and the suicidal elderly

Relationship of suicide rates to social factors and availability of lethal methods

“…Rates for older people are more variable, usually increasing in men but decreasing in women (Diekstra, 1993). Nearly one-quarter of the suicides in Newcastle in both periods were aged 65 or over, and this is the age group that is, in general, at greatest risk for completed suicide (Cattell, 1998) and in which diagnosis and treatment of physical illness and of major depression rank high among potential preventative strategies available to clinicians.…”

A study of suicides of older people in Sydney

“…Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show male suicide rates in 1999 peaking at, respectively, 36.6 and 36.3 per 100,000 in the age-groups 25±29 years and over 80 years (39.1 per 100,000 at over 85 years). Cattell (1998) commented on a comparable situation in the United Kingdom, where elderly individuals are`rarely considered in deliberations on suicide'. In an analysis of national prevention strategies, Taylor et al (1997) noted that few include speci®c reference to the elderly as a priority group.…”