Late-life suicide: A review

Author(s): Satlin, A.

Journal/Book: Harvard Rev Psychiatr. 1997; 5: 11830 Westline Industrial Dr, St Louis, MO 63146-3318. Mosby-Year Book Inc. 55-65.

Abstract: Suicide ranked as the ninth leading cause of death in the United States in 1992, with persons over the age of 65 years being at the highest risk. Suicidologists predict a dramatic increase in both the rate and the total number of rate-life suicides over the next three decades, highlighting the urgent need for prevention and treatment strategies specifically targeting at-risk order individuals. Comprehensive Medline and PsycLit searches of elderly suicide (and various synonyms thereof) were conducted for English-language publications dating back to 1989, and the bibliographies in these sources were examined for additional publications. An overview of the epidemiology, biology, psychopathology, and frequent medical concomitants of late-rife suicide is presented here. Innovative preventive strategies are also briefly summarized. It is concluded that further investigation is needed in several areas: the neurobiology of aging, affective disorders, and suicide; the complex interactions between somatic and psychiatric illnesses; personality traits that may confer vulnerability to suicide in late life; and age-related variations in the prevalence and phenomenology of Axis I psychopathology in suicide victims.

Note: Review Bharucha AJ, Dept Vet Affairs, Puget Sound Hlth Care Syst, Grecc 182B, 1660 S Columbian Way, Seattle,WA 98108 USA

Keyword(s): ADRENERGIC-RECEPTOR BINDING; SPINAL-CORD INJURY; TRITIATED IMIPRAMINE BINDING; FLUID MONOAMINE METABOLITES; IMPULSIVE FIRE SETTERS; CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID; FRONTAL-CORTEX; 5-HYDROXYINDOLEACETIC ACID; DEPRESSED-PATIENTS; AMINE METABOLITES

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