Suicide risk in the elderly: data from Brazilian public health care program

Abstract

Objective: Examine prevalence and level of suicide risk, and its associations with sociodemographic factors and mood disorders.

Methods: A cross-sectional study with a random sample of 530 individuals aged 60 years or more from Family Health Strategy of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Diagnosis was made by psychiatrists using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview plus (MINIplus).

Results: Suicide risk was found in 15.7% of the sample. Female gender, elderly with no income or with no paid activity and those who have lost one or more of his sons presented association with suicide risk. Bipolar disorder shows association with suicide risk for those with or without current episode. For unipolar depression only elderly with a current episode shows association with suicide risk.

Limitations: The cross-sectional design limits the examination of causative relationships. The MINIplus questions are not broad enough to assess other important self-destructive behaviors.

Conclusions: A high rate of suicide risk was found. As expected an increased rate of mood disorders were related to the risk of suicide. The loss of sons may partly explain a subtype of late-life risk of suicide or mood disorders especially in the oldest-old. These findings can be a useful to generate other research hypothesis and for health professionals who care older persons. Detecting characteristics linked to suicide, therefore opening up the possibility of preventing tragic outcomes providing a proper treatment.

Keywords: Aging; Bipolar disorder; Depression; Elderly; Suicide.