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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Psychiatric hospitalisation and suicide among the very old in Denmark
— population-based register study | | Author(s) | Annette Erlangsen, Preben Bo Mortensen, Werner Vach |
| Journal title | British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 187, July 2005 |
| Pages | pp 43-48 |
| Source | http://bjp.rcpsych.org |
| Keywords | Octogenarians ; Suicide ; At risk ; Psychiatric units ; Admission ; Cross sectional surveys ; Denmark. |
| Annotation | Psychiatric disorders are known to have a strong association with suicide in older people. In this Danish study, the suicide risk associated with psychiatric hospital admissions in the very old (age 80+) is compared with middle aged (50-64 years) and old (65-80) populations. Individual level data on the entire Danish population aged 50+ were analysed for the period 1994-1998. Relative suicide risks were calculated using event history analysis. Among 1,978,527 people, 2,323 died by suicide. Although the very old group exhibited a four-fold to five-fold increase in risk of suicide for those previously admitted to hospital, the authors noted an inverse interaction effect: the increase is distinctly smaller compared with that in the middle-aged and old groups. The association between suicide and psychiatric hospital admissions is much weaker for the very old than for the old. Psychiatric disorders in very old people may be interacting with other disorders, may be underdiagnosed or treated in other healthcare settings. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050824507 A |
| Classmark | BBM: EV: CA3: LDL: QKH: 3KB: 76K |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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