September 23, 2004

High Risk of Suicide in Elderly SZ Patients

Read more... Schizophrenia Biology


A study out of the Tel-Aviv University in Israel identified a 5% suicide attempt rate among a pool of 792 elderly (defined as those over 60 years of age) patients who were admitted to the hospital for schizophrenia over a 10-year period. More alarming still is the ratio of attempted to completed suicide for this population - within the range of 1:4 - which is higher than in any other age group.

Men appeared to be more prone to suicidal behavior than women (57% of attempts were made by men, as opposed to 43% by women).

For the full story, please see "Suicide attempts relatively common in elderly schizophrenia patients" (Sept 22 2004). Available at PsychiatrySource (http://www.psychiatrysource.com).

The research is published in Schizophrenia Research 2004:71:77-81.

For more information and resources related to suicide, please see our Suicide Prevention section on the schizophrenia.com website (http://www.schizophrenia.com/suicide.html).


Comments

I would have to say that the Isreali Medical Science Acadamey must be doing there job

Posted by: Steven at October 18, 2004 06:03 PM

In a time when suicide has become a culture in society, it is important to be able to recognise the warning signs. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in people aged 15 – 24 with young males four times more likely to succeed due to the lethal ways in which they choose to kill themselves.

Posted by: Tantowi at May 3, 2007 06:38 AM

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