Risk of Suicidal Behaviours in Elderly

Abstract

Introduction

Older adults constitute the age group in which suicide more often reaches its most categorical expression: consummation.

Objective

Identify risk factors for suicide in older people.

Method

Systematic review of the literature on the subject. The databases consulted were Dialnet and Pubmed. The descriptors used have been: “suicide”, “risk factors” and “elderly”, accepting the works found in English and Spanish, with a total of 501 references found after the search, from which 75 have been selected.

Results

As shown in the reviewed studies, there is a progressive increase in suicide rate with age in males. The purpose of dying in the old man is usually characterized by his firm conviction, not infrequently reflexive and premeditated. In the multifactorial etiology of suicidal behaviour in this age group, the main elements to be considered would be psychosocial factors, psychiatric diseases and chronic somatic diseases, resulting in a potentiation among them due to their frequent interaction. The feeling of abandonment, the feeling of emptiness, the despair of the organic collapse and the self-perception of being a useless person, without projects, generates deterioration in the quality of life.

Conclusions

In the multifactorial etiology of the suicidal behaviour of the elderly, they usually play coprotagonic roles, loneliness, isolation, somatic illness and depression. The most likely profile of the suicidal elder would be represented by a man with a history of depressive episode after age 40, who lives alone, with a family history of depression or alcoholism and a recent loss.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.