Objective: To identify the most common life events that occurred prior to suicide in elderly individuals and the relationship of these life events to depressive symptoms.
Methods: A detailed study considering life events in the year prior to death, the presence of mental illness at the time of death and the level of depressive symptoms in the 2 weeks prior to death was undertaken with the family members and other associates of 304 persons at 55 years of age and older who died of suicide.
Results: The three most common negative life events were acute or chronic physical illness or injury (59.2%), major changes in diet, sleeping or other daily routines (37.8%) and financial difficulties (34.5%). The severity of depressive symptoms was significantly greater among persons who had experienced these life events both for persons with or without definite mental illness.
Conclusion: Most elderly persons who died of suicide events had experienced multiple negative life events in the year prior to death and these life events were closely related to the severity of depressive symptoms at the time of death.