Suicide - Seniors

By Jerry Price - Nov 1, 2006 - comment

  • “While adults age 65 and over comprise only 13 percent of the US population, they account for 20 percent of all suicide deaths.
  • Suicidal elders often select a means of suicide (efficient and lethal) that does not permit intervention. That means we need to know how to recognize the behavior in time to intervene.
  • Well over 75% of older people who completed suicide had recent contact with a physician.
  • In the U.S., the ratio of completed to attempted suicide is 1:4 among the elderly, compared to 1:25 in the general population (McIntosh, 1997.) Reasons include: frailty of elders, social isolation, lethal methods and stronger suicidal intent.”

Suicide and Seniors, (Area Agency on Aging) [Accessed April 20, 2006]

Risk Factors for Elderly Suicide

“Suicide can happen in any family. However, life events commonly associated with elderly suicide are: the death of a loved one; physical illness; uncontrollable pain; fear of dying a prolonged death that damages family members emotionally and economically; social isolation and loneliness; and major changes in social roles, such as retirement.

“Among the elderly, white men are the most likely to die by suicide, especially if they are socially isolated or live alone. The widowed, divorced, and recently bereaved are at high risk. Others at high risk include depressed individuals and those who abuse alcohol or drugs.”

The Suicide of Older Men and Women, (HealthyPlace.com) [Accessed April 20, 2006]

  • “The elderly made up 12.3% of the population; they accounted for almost 17.5% of all suicides.
  • The rate of suicide for the elderly for 2002 was 15.6 per 100,000.
  • There was one elderly suicide every 95 minutes. There were about 15 elderly suicides each day, resulting in 5,548 suicides in 2002 among those 65 and older.
  • Elderly white men were at the highest risk with a rate of approximately 35 suicides per 100,000 each year.
  • White men over the age of 85, who are “old-old”, were at the greatest risk of all age-gender-race groups. In 2002, the suicide rate for these men was 51.1 per 100,000. That was 4.6 times the current rate for all ages (11.0 per 100,000).
  • 85% of elderly suicides were male; the number of male suicides in late life was 5.5 times greater than for female suicides.”

Elderly Suicide Fact Sheet, (American Association of Suicidology), December 1, 2004 [Accessed April 20, 2006]

Further Learning

Learn more about: Life, Suicide

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