BACKGROUND: Knowledge of suicide in people with dementia is limited to small case series. AIMS: To describe behavioural, clinical and care characteristics of people with dementia who died by suicide. METHOD: All dementia cases (n=118) from a 9-year national clinical survey of suicides in England and Wales (n=11 512) were compared with age- and gender-matched non-dementia cases (control group) (n=492) by conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: The most common method of suicide in patients with dementia was self-poisoning, followed by drowning and hanging, the latter being less frequent than in controls. In contrast to controls, significantly fewer suicides occurred within 1 year of diagnosis in patients with dementia. Patients with dementia were also less likely to have a history of self-harm, psychiatric symptoms and previous psychiatric admissions. CONCLUSIONS: Known indicators of suicide risk are found less frequently in dementia suicide cases than non-dementia suicide cases. Further research should clarify whether suicide in dementia is a response to worsening dementia or an underappreciation of psychiatric symptoms by clinicians.
BACKGROUND: Knowledge of suicide in people with dementia is limited to small case series. AIMS: To describe behavioural, clinical and care characteristics of people with dementia who died by suicide. METHOD: All dementia cases (n=118) from a 9-year national clinical survey of suicides in England and Wales (n=11 512) were compared with age- and gender-matched non-dementia cases (control group) (n=492) by conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: The most common method of suicide in patients with dementia was self-poisoning, followed by drowning and hanging, the latter being less frequent than in controls. In contrast to controls, significantly fewer suicides occurred within 1 year of diagnosis in patients with dementia. Patients with dementia were also less likely to have a history of self-harm, psychiatric symptoms and previous psychiatric admissions. CONCLUSIONS: Known indicators of suicide risk are found less frequently in dementia suicide cases than non-dementia suicide cases. Further research should clarify whether suicide in dementia is a response to worsening dementia or an underappreciation of psychiatric symptoms by clinicians.
Authors: Printha Wijesinghe; Catherine Gorrie; S K Shankar; Yasha T Chickabasaviah; Dhammika Amaratunga; Sanjayah Hulathduwa; K Sunil Kumara; Kamani Samarasinghe; Yoo-Hun Suh; H W M Steinbusch; K Ranil D De Silva Journal: Indian J Psychiatry Date: 2017 Oct-Dec Impact factor: 1.759
Authors: Ji Hyun An; Kyung Eun Lee; Hong Jin Jeon; Sang Joon Son; Sung Yoon Kim; Jin Pyo Hong Journal: Alzheimers Res Ther Date: 2019-04-11 Impact factor: 6.982
Authors: Narges Joshaghani; Nicole Villa; Omar Badla; Raman Goit; Samia E Saddik; Sarah N Dawood; Ahmad M Rabih; Ahmad Mohammed; Aishwarya Raman; Manish Uprety; Maria Jose Calero; Maria Resah B Villanueva; Safeera Khan Journal: Cureus Date: 2022-08-10