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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Deliberate self-harm in people aged 60 years and over
— characteristics and outcome of a 20-year cohort | | Author(s) | Keith Hawton, Louise Harriss |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 21, no 6, June 2006 |
| Pages | pp 572-581 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com |
| Keywords | Suicide ; Longitudinal surveys ; Oxfordshire. |
| Annotation | This is a prospective investigation and follow-up of 730 consecutive patients (459 women, 271 men) aged 60+ who presented to the general hospital in Oxford following deliberate self-harm (DSH) over a 20-year period, 1978-1997. Outcome has been examined in terms of repetition of DSH and death by the end of 2000 identified through official death registers. DSH involved self-poisoning in 88.6% of cases, 49.3% of the overdoses including paracetamol, 24% minor tranquillizers, and 15.9% antidepressants. Nearly three-quarters of episodes involved high suicidal intent. Common problems preceding DSH were physical illness (46.1%), social isolation (33.5%), relationship problems with family (29.4%) and bereavement or loss (16.7%). Repetition of DSH occurred in 15.3% of cases. By the end of 2000, 432 of traced patients (65.4%) had died. There were 30 suicides and open verdicts, which were 49 times and 33 times more frequent respectively than expected from general population death rates. Prior DSH before initial presentation was the main risk factor for suicide, with some evidence of high suicide intent being another factor. There were also excess deaths due to several types of physical disorder. The range of problems experienced by older DSH patients requires extensive and multidisciplinary clinical interventions. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-061025003 A |
| Classmark | EV: 3J: 8O |
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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