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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Does improvement in the treatment of those who attempt suicide contribute to a reduction in elderly suicide rates in England? | | Author(s) | Ajit Shah |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 21, no 4, August 2009 |
| Pages | pp 768-773 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/ipg |
| Keywords | Suicide ; Death rate [statistics] ; Psychiatric treatment ; Cross national surveys ; England. |
| Annotation | The reported decline in suicide rates of older people 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 suicide rates in England. Possible changes in rates of attempted suicides in older age-bands over a nine-year period and the correlation between rates of attempted suicide and suicide in older age-bands in England were examined using nationally collected data. 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. This study was 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 behaviour, 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. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090825242 A |
| Classmark | EV: S5: LP: 3K: 82 |
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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