Many Older U.S. Adults Who Died By Suicide Did Not Have Known Mental Illness, Study Suggests

Many U.S. adults 65 and older who died of suicide between 2003 and 2016 did not have a known mental illness, according to areport in theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine. The majority those who died of suicide were reported as having physical health problems —a precipitating circumstance that was more commonly documented for older adults without known mental illness.“Suicide risk increases with age, and evidence exists for the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of suicide risk in older adults,” wrote Timothy J. Schmutte, Psy.D., and Samuel T. Wilkinson, M.D., both of Yale School of Medicine.To better understand the similarities and differences between older adults with and without known mental illness who died of suicide, Schmutte and Wilkinson analyzed data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). This U.S. database contains extensive information on the characteristics of suicide decedents and the circumstances that precipitated their deaths. Known mental illness was defined as whether a decedent was identified as having a current mental health problem based on law enforcement or coroner/medical examiner reports.Of the 26,884 suicide deaths recorded during the study period, 83.2% occurred in men. Most older men (69.1%) and women (50.2%) who died of suicide did not have a known mental illness.Most suicide deaths involved firearms, which were disproportionately used by decedents without known mental illness (81.6% of men and 44.6% of women) compared...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: American Journal of Preventive Medicine firearms National Violent Death Reporting System older adults physical health problems Samuel Wilkinson suicide Timothy Schmutte Source Type: research