Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T04:27:09.184Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

One Hundred Cases of Suicide in Elderly People

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Howard Cattell  and
David J. Jolley
Howard Cattell*
Affiliation:
Wrexham Maelor Hospital and The North Wales Hospital
David J. Jolley
Affiliation:
Withington Hospital, Manchester
*
Dr Cattell, Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Croesnewydd Road, Wrexham, Clwyd LL13 7TD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

The White Paper The Health of the Nation targets a reduction in suicide rates. Preventive strategies must be guided by an understanding of the demography and antecedents of suicide. These issues are examined in relation to suicide by old people in Manchester.

Method

One hundred consecutive coroners' inquisitions on people aged over 65 occurring between 1980 and 1991 in which the verdict was suicide were scrutinised and related to Health Service notes.

Results

Suicides were rare, numbers ranging from 0 to seven per annum per Health District. Rates did not vary between district but did within smaller sub-populations. Most individuals died at home; 65% were physically ill, of whom 23% had been hospitalised within the previous year. At least 60% were clinically depressed, with 25% being prescribed antidepressants. A total of 43% had seen their general practitioner in the previous month but only 14% were in contact with psychiatric services.

Conclusions

Many elderly people who commit suicide are not in close contact with primary care services; those who are may not be prescribed appropriate treatment, and few are referred for specialist care. Specialist services will fail to reduce suicide rates unless they embark upon programmes to increase public awareness of therapeutic possibilities and work more closely with primary care agencies to realise these possibilities.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 4 , April 1995 , pp. 451 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asgard, U. (1990) A psychiatric study of suicide among urban women in Sweden. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 82, 115–124.Google Scholar
Barraclough, B. (1971) Suicide in the elderly. In Recent Developments in Psychogeriatrics (eds D. W. K. Kay & A. Walks) pp. 87–97. Headley, Ashford: Royal Medico-Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Barraclough, B. (1987) Physical illness and suicide. In Suicide, Clinical and Epidemiological Studies, pp. 37–46. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Barraclough, B., Bunch, J., Nelson, B., et al (1974) A hundred cases of suicide: clinical aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 355–373.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cattell, H. R. (1988) Elderly suicide in London: An analysis of coroners' inquests. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 3, 251–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cmd. 1986 (1992) The Health of the Nation: A Strategy for Health in England. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Diekstra, R. F. W. (1989) Suicide and the attempted suicide: An international perspective. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 80 (Suppl. 345), 1–24.Google Scholar
Dorpat, T. & Ripley, H. S. (1960) A study of suicide in the Seattle area. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 1, 349–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P. (1980) Mental Illness in the Community. The Pathway to Psychiatric Care. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Isacsson, G., Holmgren, P., Wasserman, D., et al (1994) Use of antidepressants among people committing suicide in Sweden. British Medical Journal, 308, 506–509.Google Scholar
Jolley, S. & Jolley, D. (1991) Psychiatric disorders in old age. In Community Psychiatry (eds D. Bennett, H. Freeman), pp. 268–296. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
King, E. & Barraclough, B. (1990) Violent death and mental illness. A study of a single catchment area over eight years. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 714–720.Google Scholar
Lennon, S. & Jolley, D. (1991) An urban service in South Manchester. In Psychiatry in the Elderly (eds R. Jacoby, G. Oppenheimer), pp. 322–338). Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications.Google Scholar
Lindesay, J. (1991) Suicide in the elderly. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 6, 355–361.Google Scholar
Merrill, J. & Owens, J. (1990) Age and attempted suicide. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 82, 385–388.Google Scholar
Michel, K. & Valach, L. (1992) Suicide prevention: Spreading the gospel to general practitioners. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 757–760.Google Scholar
MacDonald, A. (1986) Do G.P.s ‘miss’ depression in the elderly patients? British Medical Journal, 292, 1365.Google Scholar
Nowers, M. (1993) Deliberate self-harm in the elderly: A survey of one London Borough. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 8, 609–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1991) Census County Report. Greater Manchester CEN91 CR18. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Ovenstone, I. & Kreitman, N. (1974) Two syndromes of suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 336–345.Google Scholar
Pierce, D. (1987) Deliberate self harm in the elderly. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2, 105–110.Google Scholar
Pritchard, C. (1992) Changes in elderly suicide in the USA and the developed world 1974–1987. Comparison with current homicide. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 7, 125–134.Google Scholar
Rich, C. L., Young, D. & Fowler, R. C. (1986) The San Diego suicide study. 1: Young vs old subjects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 577–582.Google Scholar
Robins, E., Murphy, G. E. Wilkinson, R. H., et al (1959) Some clinical considerations in the prevention of suicide based on a study of 134 successful suicides. American Journal of Public Health, 49, 888–898.Google Scholar
Rutz, W., Von Knorring, L. & Walinder, J. (1989) Frequency of suicide on Gotland after systematic postgraduate education of General Practitioners. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 80, 151–154.Google Scholar
Rutz, W., Von Knorring, L. & Walinder, J. (1992) Long-term effects of an educational program for general practitioners given by the Swedish Committee for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 85, 83–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sainsbury, P. (1955) Suicide in London. Maudsley Monograph 1. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Vassilas, C. A. & Morgan, H. G. (1993) General practitioners' contact with victims of suicide. British Medical Journal, 307, 300–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.