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Cited by 156Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesHomicide, Infanticide, and Child AbuseAging, Health, and Disability

Association between physical illness and suicide among the elderly

Quan, Hude, Arboleda-Flórez, Julio, Fick, Gordon H., Stuart, Heather L., Love, Edgar J.·2002·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
DOI 10.1007/s001270200014
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Abstract

Background Only a few small studies have explored the association between various physical illnesses and suicide in the elderly and they have produced inconsistent results. Thus, we undertook this larger study to more definitively assess the association between elderly suicide and physical illness.Methods This case-control study compared the proportion with physical illnesses among 822 cases who committed suicide with that among 944 controls who died due to motor vehicle accident at age 55 years or over in Alberta, Canada.Results Compared to the motor vehicle accident deaths, the elderly who committed suicide were more likely to have cancer, ischemic heart disease, chronic pulmonary disease, peptic ulcer, prostatic disorder, depression and other psychiatric illnesses. There was no significant difference in the proportion of cerebrovascular disease and diabetes mellitus between the case and control groups before adjustment of demographic and clinical characteristics. After adjustment of these variables, the elderly with any of the following illnesses were more likely to die by suicide than those without the illness: cancer (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: 1.73 [1.16-2.58]), prostatic disorder (excluding prostatic cancer, 1.70 [1.16-2.49]), chronic pulmonary disease among the married (1.86 [1.22-2.83]), depression (6.70 [4.72-9.50]) or other psychiatric illness (2.16 [1.68-2.76]). There was no evidence that ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peptic ulcer and diabetes mellitus might be associated with suicide in the elderly.Conclusions Cancer, prostatic disorder, chronic pulmonary disease among the married and psychiatric illness appear to be associated with suicide among the elderly.

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  • Conditions such as HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, renal and peptic ulcer disease, heart and lung diseases, spinal cord injury, and systemic lupus erythematosus have been associated with increased suicide risk in some studies.

    “Other diverse conditions such as HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, Huntington's disease and multiple sclerosis, renal and peptic ulcer disease, heart and lung diseases, spinal cord injury and systemic lupus erythematosus have also been found to be associated with increased suicide risk in some studies (25-27).”

    From Suicide in older adults (2011) · cites this paper as [27]

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Authors
Quan, H., Arboleda-Flórez, J., Fick, G. H., Stuart, H. L., & Love, E. J.
Affiliations
  • University of Calgary (CA)
  • Queen's University (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2002-04
Volume
37
Issue
4
Pages
190-197
ISSN
  • 0933-7954 (ISSN-L)
  • 1433-9285
DOI
10.1007/s001270200014
OpenAlex
W2171549333
Cited by
156
References
54
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 10
FWCI
6.64
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
Keywords
suicide, older adults, physical illness, cancer, chronic lung disease, depression, mental illness, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peptic ulcer, diabetes mellitus, marital status
MeSH terms
Aged, Alberta, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Suicide, Logistic Models, Odds Ratio, Case-Control Studies

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