Is there a relationship between elderly suicide rates and educational attainment? A cross-national study (original) (raw)
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Background: Two recent studies reported a curvilinear (U-shaped) between elderly suicide rates and educational attainment measured by the United Nation's Education Index. A study examining the curvilinear (U-shaped) relationship between elderly suicide rates and the individual components of the Education Index (adult literacy rate, percentage of children of relevant age group enrolled in primary schools and percentage of children of relevant age group enrolled for secondary schools) and one other measure of educational attainment (youth literacy rate) was undertaken to partial out the effects of the individual components of Education Index on elderly suicides.
Socioeconomic Risk Factors in the Precipitation of Suicide in the Elderly
The Open Geriatric Medicine Journal, 2009
Suicide among the elderly is a critical public health problem. Large socioeconomic inequalities are present in suicide mortality cases, but the association is complex and may be different for elderly men and women. Reducing these differences could significantly reduce the burden of excess mortality, at least in elderly men. The aim of the present paper is to review research concerning the socioeconomic risk factors associated with suicide in the elderly. It is noted that the association between suicide risk and socioeconomic factors is likely to be overestimated when the effect of psychiatric status is not considered.
International Psychogeriatrics, 2012
The elderly population size is increasing worldwide due to prolonged life expectancy and falling birth rates. Traditionally, suicide rates increase with age. For example, a recent cross-national study of 62 developing and developed countries reported an increase in suicide rates with aging in males and females in 25 and 27 countries respectively (Shah, 2007a). Thus, suicides in the elderly are an important public health concern. While much is known about proximal (individual level) risk and protective factors for elderly suicides (e.g. Conwell et al., 1991; Cattell and Jolley, 1995; Harwood et al., 2001), less is known about more distal (societal or population level) risk and protective factors (Rehkopf and Buka, 2006). Moreover, detailed knowledge of these distal factors may have greater public health relevance for the development of comprehensive prevention strategies (Knox et al., 2004).
Social Science Research, 2001
Publication of 19th-century age-and gender-specific suicide rates (Morselli, 1882, ) and similar 20th-century suicide rates (World Health Organization 1956, ) invited comparative study of the age structures of suicide, but Girard's 1993 article was the first detailed effort to construct a measure of age structure that would allow systematic comparative analysis of cross-national data. We replaced Girard's qualitative typology with a quantitative measure of age structures. We then tested the theory that economic development is a key to understanding the age structure of suicide. We found no difference between these structures around 1850 and those in industrialized countries more than a century later. Differences between the male age structure of suicide in the United States and the other 19 developed countries in the 1955-1994 period were measured. We also found that change in the age structure in each country between 1955-1964 and 1985-1994 was statistically significant in 19 of the 20 countries. Over this period the share of total suicides to men ages 15-44 increased in nearly all countries, while the share to men 45-74 declined. Regression analysis using measures of societal integration, the culture of suicide, and the 1955-1964 suicide rate successfully predicted the 1985-1994 age structure in 18 of 20 countries.
Sex differences in elderly suicide rates: Some predictive factors
Aging & Mental Health, 1999
In the USA the rate of suicide among individuals aged 65 and older is higher than that for any other age group. There is a marked sex difference, with men accounting for 86% of elderly suicides. Using a sample consisting of every reported suicide death of older individuals between 1986 and 1990 (N =31,541), it was found that a different pattern of variables was predictive of suicide rates for men and wom en. For elderly men, factors associated with ® nancial and social status were the best predictors of suicide. For elderly wom en, the predictors were indexes of social and environmental stability and stress. These ® ndings may be explainable by psychological theories which speak of sex differen ces in the personality domains known as agency and comm union, and similar considerations may help to explain why the suicide rate for men tends to increase in old age, while that for women rem ains relatively constant.
Cohort Effects on Suicide Rates: International Variations
American Sociological Review, 2002
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Burden of illness and suicide in elderly people: case-control study
BMJ, 2002
Objectives To study the association between physical illness and suicide in elderly people. Design Case-control with illness determined from interviews with relatives of people who committed suicide and with control participants and from medical records. Setting Gothenburg and two surrounding counties (210 703 people aged 65 years and over). Participants Consecutive records of people who had committed suicide and had undergone forensic examination (46 men, 39 women) and living control participants from the tax register (84 men, 69 women). Main outcome measures Physical illness rated in 13 organ systems according to the cumulative illness rating scale-geriatrics; serious physical illness (organ category score 3 or 4); overall score for burden of physical illness. Results Visual impairment (odds ratio 7.0, 95% confidence interval 2.3 to 21.4), neurological disorders (3.8, 1.5 to 9.4), and malignant disease (3.4, 1.2 to 9.8) were associated with increased risk for suicide. Serious physical illness in any organ category was an independent risk factor for suicide in the multivariate regression model (6.4, 2.0 to 20.0). When the sexes were analysed separately, serious physical illness was associated with suicide in men (4.2, 1.8 to 9.5) as was high burden of physical illness (2.8, 1.2 to 6.5). Such associations were not seen in women, possibly because of the small sample size. Conclusions Visual impairment, neurological disorders, and malignant disease were independently associated with increased risk of suicide in elderly people. Serious physical illness may be a stronger risk factor for suicide in men than in women.
International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 2018
The purpose of this study was to identify distinctive characteristics of old-old suicide attempters (75 years and older) from young-old (60-74 years old) and middle-aged suicide attempters (45-59 years old). We included consecutive series of 920 patients aged 45 years and older who had visited the emergency room from 2009 to 2015 because of suicide attempts. They were divided into 3 groups according to age. Information about the suicide attempt and sociodemographic status was gathered through interviews with attempters or caregivers. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were performed to evaluate the differences among the 3 groups. We found that old-old suicide attempters had high intent to die and high medical lethality as a result of the attempt, and illness-related problems exerted a strong motivational effect on this group. Psychiatric drugs, pesticides, and herbicides were frequently used to attempt suicide. These attempts were less likely to be associated with alco...