Citation

Erlangsen A, Zarit SH, Conwell Y. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 68.

Affiliation

National Center for Register-based Research, UC Berkeley, 2232 Piedmont Av, CA 94720-2120, Berkeley, USA. (aer@ncrr.dk)

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16963967

Abstract

The prevalence of dementia is expected to increase in coming decades. Its relation to suicide has yet to be studied systematically. The purpose of this study is to examine suicide risks among older adults diagnosed with dementia using a national sample. Methods: Individual-level data on the entire Danish population aged 50 years and older (N=2,469,488) were analysed (event-history analysis). Suicide risks were calculated for time-varying predictors of suicide (age, gender, civil status, time since first diagnosis, and somatic comorbidity). Results: During the 11-year observation period, 215 persons dying by suicide had at some point received a diagnosis of dementia. Among those, 25% of the men died within the first 3 month of initial hospital diagnosis while half of the women died more than 6 years after first diagnosis. Persons diagnosed with dementia have an elevated suicide risk compared to the general population, particularly among younger age groups. Having a larger number of comorbid physical illnesses was associated with an increased suicide risk among persons with dementia. Conclusions: Interventions aiming at preventing suicidal outcomes in persons with dementia should take into account gender differences and other risk predictors for suicide when assessing patients.

Language: en