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The Health Status of Elderly Persons in the Last Year of Life: a Comparison of Deaths by Suicide, Injury, and Natural Causes

Overview
Journal Am J Public Health
Specialty Public Health
Date 1997 Mar 1
PMID 9096548
Citations 8
Authors
L Grabbe
A Demi
M A Camann
L Potter
Affiliations
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Abstract

Objectives: This study identified health status variables related to suicide by elderly persons and compared the health status of suicide decedents with natural death and injury decedents.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 1986 National Mortality Followback Survey.

Results: When other variables were controlled for, suicide decedents were significantly more likely than injury decedents to have a history of cancer (odds ratio [OR] = 51.94), moderate (OR = 29.37) or heavy (OR = 22.87) alcohol use, and mental or emotional disorder (OR = 10.91) and to be White (OR = 18.54) and male (OR = 9.12).

Conclusions: The findings indicate that a history of cancer should be considered as a risk for suicide in the elderly.

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Completed suicide in an autopsy-confirmed case of early onset Alzheimer's disease.

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Erlangsen A, Stenager E, Conwell Y Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2015; 50(9):1427-39.

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Incidence of suicide in persons with cancer.

Misono S, Weiss N, Fann J, Redman M, Yueh B J Clin Oncol. 2008; 26(29):4731-8.

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Arsenault-Lapierre G, Kim C, Turecki G BMC Psychiatry. 2004; 4:37.

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