Skip to main content
PMC home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1997 Mar;87(3):434–437. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.3.434

The health status of elderly persons in the last year of life: a comparison of deaths by suicide, injury, and natural causes.

L Grabbe 1, A Demi 1, M A Camann 1, L Potter 1
PMCID: PMC1381019  PMID: 9096548

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study identified health status variables related to suicide by elderly persons and compared the health status of suicide decedents with natural death and injury decedents. METHODS: Data were obtained from the 1986 National Mortality Followback Survey. RESULTS: When other variables were controlled for, suicide decedents were significantly more likely than injury decedents to have a history of cancer (odds ratio [OR] = 51.94), moderate (OR = 29.37) or heavy (OR = 22.87) alcohol use, and mental or emotional disorder (OR = 10.91) and to be White (OR = 18.54) and male (OR = 9.12). CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that a history of cancer should be considered as a risk for suicide in the elderly.

Full text

PDF
435

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Allebeck P., Bolund C. Suicides and suicide attempts in cancer patients. Psychol Med. 1991 Nov;21(4):979–984. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700029962. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Blazer D. The epidemiology of depression in late life. J Geriatr Psychiatry. 1989;22(1):35–52. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Canetto S. S. Gender and suicide in the elderly. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1992 Spring;22(1):80–97. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Casey D. A. Suicide in the elderly: a two-year study of data from death certificates. South Med J. 1991 Oct;84(10):1185–1187. doi: 10.1097/00007611-199110000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Conwell Y., Caine E. D., Olsen K. Suicide and cancer in late life. Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1990 Dec;41(12):1334–1339. doi: 10.1176/ps.41.12.1334. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Garden F. H., Garrison S. J., Jain A. Assessing suicide risk in stroke patients: review of two cases. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1990 Nov;71(12):1003–1005. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hietanen P., Lönnqvist J. Cancer and suicide. Ann Oncol. 1991 Jan;2(1):19–23. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.annonc.a057816. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Levi F., Bulliard J. L., La Vecchia C. Suicide risk among incident cases of cancer in the Swiss Canton of Vaud. Oncology. 1991;48(1):44–47. doi: 10.1159/000226893. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Louhivuori K. A., Hakama M. Risk of suicide among cancer patients. Am J Epidemiol. 1979 Jan;109(1):59–65. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112659. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McIntosh J. L. Epidemiology of suicide in the elderly. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1992 Spring;22(1):15–35. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Meehan P. J., Saltzman L. E., Sattin R. W. Suicides among older United States residents: epidemiologic characteristics and trends. Am J Public Health. 1991 Sep;81(9):1198–1200. doi: 10.2105/ajph.81.9.1198. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Osgood N. J. Psychological factors in late-life suicide. Crisis. 1991 Sep;12(2):18–24. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Seeman I. Sampler of findings from the 1986 national mortality followback survey on risk factors, disability, and health care. Public Health Rep. 1992 Nov-Dec;107(6):707–712. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Zweig R. A., Hinrichsen G. A. Factors associated with suicide attempts by depressed older adults: a prospective study. Am J Psychiatry. 1993 Nov;150(11):1687–1692. doi: 10.1176/ajp.150.11.1687. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES