Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T15:48:58.944Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Middle-aged and older adults who had serious suicidal thoughts: who made suicide plans and nonfatal suicide attempts?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2014

Namkee G. Choi ,
Diana M. DiNitto  and
C. Nathan Marti
Namkee G. Choi*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd, D3500, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
Diana M. DiNitto
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd, D3500, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
C. Nathan Marti
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd, D3500, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Namkee G. Choi, PhD, School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd, D3500, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. Phone: +512-232-9590; Fax: +512-471-9600. Email: nchoi@austin.utexas.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

High suicide rates in late middle-aged and older adults are significant public health problems. Although suicide risk and protective factors are well established, more research is needed about suicide planners and attempters. Using multi-year, national epidemiologic survey data, this study identified correlates of making suicide plans and nonfatal suicide attempts among U.S. adults aged 50+ years.

Methods:

Data are from the 2008 to 2012 U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Descriptive statistics were used to examine sample characteristics by past-year serious suicidal thoughts, suicide plans, and suicide attempts. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine potential correlates (sociodemographic factors, health status, religiosity, psychiatric and substance use disorders (SUDs), and mental health and substance abuse treatment use) of suicide plans and suicide attempts among those who reported serious suicidal thoughts.

Results:

Of the 2.5% of the study population that had serious suicidal thoughts (n = 804), 28% made suicide plans and 11.5% attempted suicide. Although 42% of those with serious suicidal thoughts had major depressive episode (MDE), MDE was not significantly associated with suicide plans or attempts in multivariate models. Being employed decreased the odds of making suicide plans, while mental health service use was associated with increased odds of suicide plans. SUDs increased the odds of suicide attempts.

Conclusions:

It is important to screen middle-aged and older adults for severe mental and SUDs and suicidal thoughts and to target interventions for likely planners and attempters.

Keywords

suicidesuicide planningsuicide attemptmental healthsubstance use disorder
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , March 2015 , pp. 491 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almeida, O. P. et al. (2012). Factors associated with suicidal thoughts in a large community study of older adults. British Journal of Psychiatry, 201, 466–472. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.112.110130.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Blow, F. C., Brockmann, L. M. and Barry, K. L. (2004). Role of alcohol in late-life suicide. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 28 (Suppl. 5), 48S–56S.Google Scholar
Carter, M. W. and Reymann, M. R. (2014). ED use by older adults attempting suicide. American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 32, 535–540. doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2014.02.003.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Suicide facts at a glance. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/Suicide_DataSheet-a.pdf Google Scholar
Cole, T. B., Bowling, J. M., Patetta, M. J. and Blazer, D. G. (2014). Risk factors for suicide among older adults with cancer. Aging and Mental Health, 18, 854–860. doi:10.1080/13607863.2014.892567.Google Scholar
Conwell, Y., Duberstein, P. R. and Caine, E. D. (2002). Risk factors for suicide in later life. Biological Psychiatry, 52, 193–204.Google Scholar
Conwell, Y., Duberstein, P. R., Cox, C., Hermann, J. M., Forbes, N. and Caine, E. D. (1998). Age differences in behaviors leading to completed suicide. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 6, 122–126.Google Scholar
Conwell, Y., Van Orden, K. and Caine, E. D. (2011). Suicide in older adults. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 34, 451–468.Google Scholar
Corna, L. M., Cairney, J. and Streiner, D. L. (2010). Suicide ideation in older adults: relationship to mental health problems and service use. The Gerontologist, 50, 785–97. doi:10.1093/geront/gnq048.Google Scholar
De Leo, D., Draper, B. M., Snowdon, J. and Kõlves, K. (2013). Suicides in older adults: a case-control psychological autopsy study in Australia. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 47, 980–988, doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2013.02.009.Google Scholar
Dervic, K. et al. (2011). Moral or religious objections to suicide may protect against suicidal behavior in bipolar disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 72, 1390–1396. doi:10.4088/JCP.09m05910gre.Google Scholar
Fässberg, M. M. et al. (2012). A systematic review of social factors and suicidal behavior in older adulthood. Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9, 722–745.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garand, L., Mitchell, A. M., Dietrick, A., Hijjawi, S. P. and Pan, D. (2006). Suicide in older adults: Nursing assessment of suicide risk. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 27, 355–370. doi:10.1080/01612840600569633.Google Scholar
Gilman, S. E. et al. (2013). Social inequalities in depression and suicidal thoughts among older primary care patients. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48, 59–69. doi:10.1007/s00127-012-0575-9.Google Scholar
Hosmer, D., Lemeshow, S. and Sturdivant, R. (2013). Applied Logistic Regression. New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. (2012). National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2012: Codebook. ICPSR 34933. Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
Jahn, D. R. and Cukrowicz, K. C. (2011). The impact of the nature of relationships on perceived burdensomeness and suicide ideation in a community sample of older adults. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 41, 635–649. doi:10.1111/j.1943-278X.2011.00060.x.Google Scholar
Karch, D. (2011). Sex differences in suicide incident characteristics and circumstances among older adults: surveillance data from the national violent death reporting system–17 U.S. states, 2007–2009. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8, 3479–3495. doi:10.3390/ijerph8083479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, R. C. et al. (2003). Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 184–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lapierre, S. et al. (2011). A systematic review of elderly suicide programs. Crisis, 32, 88–98. doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000076.Google Scholar
Marty, M. A., Segal, D. L. and Coolidge, F. L. (2010). Relationships among dispositional coping strategies, suicidal thoughts, and protective factors against suicide in older adults. Aging and Mental Health, 14, 1015–1023. doi:10.1080/13607863.2010.501068.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morin, J., Wiktorsson, S., Marlow, T., Olesen, P. J., Skoog, I. and Waern, M. (2013). Alcohol use disorder in elderly suicide attempters: a comparison study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 21, 196–203.Google Scholar
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). (2014). Health, United States, 2013: With special feature on prescription drugs. Hyattsville, MD.Google Scholar
Nisbet, P. A., Duberstein, P. R., Conwell, Y. and Seidlitz, L. (2000). Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 188, 543–546.Google Scholar
O’Riley, A. A., Van Orden, K. A., He, H., Richardson, T. M., Podgorski, C. and Conwell, Y. (2014). Suicide and death ideation in older adults obtaining aging services. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22, 614–622. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2012.12.004.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purcell, B., Heisel, M. J., Speice, J., Franus, N., Conwell, Y. and Duberstein, P. R. (2012). Family connectedness moderates the association between living alone and suicide ideation in a clinical sample of adults 50 years and older. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 20, 717–723. doi:10.1097/JGP.0b013e31822ccd79.Google Scholar
Rushing, N. C., Corsentino, E., Hames, J. L., Sachs-Ericsson, N. and Steffens, D. C. (2013). The relationship of religious involvement indicators and social support to current and past suicidality among depressed older adults. Aging and Mental Health, 17, 366–374. doi:10.1080/13607863.2012.738414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szanto, K. et al. (2013). Research to reduce the suicide rate among older adults: methodology roadblocks and promising paradigms. Psychiatric Services, 64, 586–589. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.003582012.Google Scholar
Vasiliadis, H. M., Gagné, S., Jozwiak, N. and Préville, M. (2013). Gender differences in health service use for mental health reasons in community dwelling older adults with suicidal thoughts. International Psychogeriatrics, 2, 374–381. doi:10.1017/S1041610212001895.Google Scholar