Citation

Ngamini Ngui A, Vasiliadis HM, Préville M. Prev. Med. 2015; 75: 44-48.

Affiliation

Hôpital Charles LeMoyne Research Centre Longueuil, Department of Community Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada. Electronic address: Michel.Preville@USherbrooke.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.03.015

PMID

25819059

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of individual and neighborhood characteristics associated with suicide in older adults.

METHOD: This study used two complementary data sources. The first used administrative data from the Quebec coroner's office and included information on suicide deaths in older adults aged 65 years and over who died by suicide between 2000 and 2005 (n = 903 persons). The second data source, which was used to identify the control group, came from a longitudinal study on seniors' health that was conducted in Quebec between 2004 and 2005 (n = 2 493 persons). Logistic regression analyses were used to test for associations between suicide and individual and neighborhood level characteristics.

RESULTS: Suicide was associated with male gender, age, the presence of a physical and mental disorder and the use of health services. At the neighborhood level, suicide was associated with a higher population density, concentration of men, lower rates of education and higher rate of unemployment. Gender specific analyses also showed different patterns of associations on suicide risk.

CONCLUSIONS: Suicide in older adults is associated with neighborhood and individual characteristics. This suggests that policies targeting only one level of risk factors are less likely to significantly influence suicide among this population.

Language: en