The Clinical Characteristics of Elderly Suicide Attempters Visiting Emergency Room.
- Author:
Hyun Woo SHIN
1
;
Kang Joon LEE
;
Hyun KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Psychiatry, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje Unversity College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea. intuit@paik.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Suicide attempt;
Elderly;
Emergency room
- MeSH:
Adult;
Aged*;
Emergencies*;
Emergency Service, Hospital*;
Hand;
Humans;
Retrospective Studies;
Suicide*
- From:Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
2015;23(2):100-106
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to find out the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of elderly suicide attempters visiting emergency room, compared to non-elderly adult suicide attempters. METHODS: We enrolled suicidal attempters who were treated in the emergency room of the Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital between June 2013 and July 2015. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 336 suicidal attempters, and compared sociodemographic and clinical characteristics between elderly and non-elderly adult suicide attempters. RESULTS: During the study period, 336 patients visited the emergency room of the medical center after suicide attempts. Among these, there were 71 elderly(21.2%) and 265 non-elderly adult(79.8%) suicide attempters. The suicidal methods among elderly were poisoning(73.3%), hanging(19.7%), cutting(5.6%), and jumping(1.4%). Those in non-elderly were poisoning(73.2%), cutting(17.0%), hanging(6.8%), and jumping(3.0%). The elderly suicide attempters had the tendency to choose more dangerous methods and showed higher lethality compared to adult suicide attempters(20.6% vs. 1.9%, χ2=34.565, p<0.05). On the other hand, premorbid psychiatric disorders had been more commonly diagnosed in non-elderly adults than elderly suicide attempters(49.8% vs. 26.8%, χ2=12.024, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence of different sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of elderly suicide attempters compared to non-elderly ones visiting the emergency room. Through this study, it can be seen that the suicide attempt in the elderly tends to be severer than in the non-elderly, but only a small portion of them seek for help from psychiatric intervention. Further study is required to provide effective suicide prevention programs for elderly population.
