ABSTRACT
The identi”cation of suicide risk factors in late life has been greatly enhanced by the use of psychological autopsy. These studies attempt to identify differences between populations that have committed suicide or present with suicidality compared to control groups. Additionally, these studies comparing demographic and clinical features of suicide attempters versus age-matched controls have shown great utility in identifying factors that increase the risk of suicide in the elderly. In a Swedish study by Wiktorsson et al., suicide attempters 70 years of age or older tended to be unmarried,
17.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 347 17.2 Risk Factors .................................................................................................. 347
17.2.1 Sociodemographic Factors ................................................................348 17.2.2 Clinical Risk Factors ........................................................................348 17.2.3 Neurobiological Factors .................................................................... 349
17.3 Evaluation ..................................................................................................... 349 17.4 Intervention/Prevention ................................................................................ 350 17.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 351 References .............................................................................................................. 351
have a low education level, live alone, have a history of psychiatric illness, and have a history of a previous attempt [4]. This study highlights both the sociodemographic and clinical risk factors that have identi”ed in a number of studies.
