Assessing the role of physical illness in young old and older old suicide attempters

Résumé

textbfOBJECTIVES: Attributions for attempting suicide were explored in older adults with and without serious physical illness. textbfMETHODS: An open-ended question was used to explore attributions for attempting suicide in 101 hospitalized persons aged 70+. Serious physical illness was defined as a score of 3 or 4 on any of the 13 non-psychiatric organ categories in the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics. textbfRESULTS: Roughly one-third of hospitalized persons with (22/62) and without (12/39) serious physical illness attributed the suicide attempt to somatic distress. Among 70- to 79-year-olds, seriously physically ill patients were more likely than healthier patients to attribute their attempt to psychological pain (84% vs. 48%