High rate of antidepressant treatment in elderly people who commit suicide
1996; BMJ; Volume: 313; Issue: 7065 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1136/bmj.313.7065.1118
ISSN0959-8138
AutoresMargda Wærn, Jan Beskow, Bo Runeson, Ingmar Skoog,
Tópico(s)Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
ResumoThe strong role of affective illness in suicides late in life has been shown repeatedly.1 The prevailing view is that suicide in the elderly is primarily a question of undiagnosed, untreated depression.2 3 During recent years antidepressants which are better tolerated by elderly people have been introduced. We therefore examined cases of suicide among elderly people to see whether they had been taking antidepressants. Seventy five Scandinavian born people aged 65 or over (40 men, 35 women) committed suicide and were examined by the Goteborg Institute of Forensic Medicine from January 1994 to July 1995. The median age was 73 years (range 65–97). Sixty suicides were classified as certain—that is, there was no doubt of suicidal intention according to the forensic examiner (ICD9, E950-959)—and 15 …
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