BACKGROUND: Suicide prevention is a health service priority but the most effective approaches to prevention may differ between different patient groups. AIMS: To describe social and clinical characteristics in cases of suicide from different age and diagnostic groups. METHOD: A national clinical survey of a 4-year (1996-2000) sample of cases of suicide in England and Wales where there had been recent (<1 year) contact with mental health services (n=4859). RESULTS: Deaths of young patients were characterised by jumping from a height or in front of a vehicle, schizophrenia, personality disorder, unemployment and substance misuse. In older patients, drowning, depression, living alone, physical illness, recent bereavement and suicide pacts were more common. People with schizophrenia were often in-patients and died by violent means. About a third of people with depressive disorder died within a year of illness onset. Those with substance dependence or personality disorder had high rates of disengagement from services. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention measures likely to benefit young people include targeting schizophrenia, dual diagnosis and loss of service contact; those aimed at depression, isolation and physical ill-health should have more effect on elderly people.
BACKGROUND: Suicide prevention is a health service priority but the most effective approaches to prevention may differ between different patient groups. AIMS: To describe social and clinical characteristics in cases of suicide from different age and diagnostic groups. METHOD: A national clinical survey of a 4-year (1996-2000) sample of cases of suicide in England and Wales where there had been recent (<1 year) contact with mental health services (n=4859). RESULTS: Deaths of young patients were characterised by jumping from a height or in front of a vehicle, schizophrenia, personality disorder, unemployment and substance misuse. In older patients, drowning, depression, living alone, physical illness, recent bereavement and suicide pacts were more common. People with schizophrenia were often in-patients and died by violent means. About a third of people with depressive disorder died within a year of illness onset. Those with substance dependence or personality disorder had high rates of disengagement from services. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention measures likely to benefit young people include targeting schizophrenia, dual diagnosis and loss of service contact; those aimed at depression, isolation and physical ill-health should have more effect on elderly people.
Authors: Ayal Schaffer; Erkki T Isometsä; Leonardo Tondo; Doris H Moreno; Mark Sinyor; Lars Vedel Kessing; Gustavo Turecki; Abraham Weizman; Jean-Michel Azorin; Kyooseob Ha; Catherine Reis; Frederick Cassidy; Tina Goldstein; Zoltán Rihmer; Annette Beautrais; Yuan-Hwa Chou; Nancy Diazgranados; Anthony J Levitt; Carlos A Zarate; Lakshmi Yatham Journal: Aust N Z J Psychiatry Date: 2015-07-16 Impact factor: 5.744
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Authors: Hsiu-Ju Chang; Yuen-Liang Lai; Chia-Ming Chang; Ching-Chiu Kao; Meei-Ling Shyu; Ming-Been Lee Journal: Community Ment Health J Date: 2011-11-22
Authors: Jules Angst; Michael P Hengartner; Alex Gamma; Detlev von Zerssen; Felix Angst Journal: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci Date: 2012-11-04 Impact factor: 5.270