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Does improvement in the treatment of those who attempt suicide contribute to a reduction in elderly suicide rates in England?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2009

Ajit Shah
Ajit Shah*
Affiliation:
Ageing, Ethnicity and Mental Health, International School for Communities, Rights and Inclusion, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, U.K. and West London Mental Health NHS Trust, London, U.K.
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Professor Ajit Shah, West London Mental Health NHS Trust, Uxbridge Road, Southall, Middlesex, UB1 3EU, U.K. Phone: +44 208 354 8140; Fax: +44 208 354 8307. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Background: The reported decline in elderly suicide rates in England may have been, in part, due to prompt and successful resuscitation of those who attempt suicide. This study examines the impact of prompt and successful resuscitation of those who attempt suicide on elderly suicide rates in England.

Methods: Possible changes in rates of attempted suicides in elderly age-bands over a nine-year period and the correlation between rates of attempted suicide and suicide in elderly age-bands in England were examined using nationally collected data.

Results: There was a significant increase in the rates of attempted suicide over the study period in the age-band 60–74 years, but not in the age-band 75+ years. There was a positive correlation between rates of attempted suicide and suicide in the age-band 75+ years, but not in the age-band 60–74 years.

Conclusions: The findings of this study were unable to confirm conclusively that prompt and successful medical resuscitation of those who attempt suicide makes a contribution to the decline in elderly suicide rates and requires further study. Public health initiatives should be designed to reduce not only suicide rates but also rates of attempted suicide; otherwise they are failing in the prevention of mental illness and suicidal behavior, early identification and treatment of those with mental illness and those at risk of suicide, and systematic follow-up of those recovering and recovered from mental illness.

Keywords

elderly suicideselderly suicide attemptspublic health
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , August 2009 , pp. 768 - 773
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2009

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