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Citation
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Cations M, Lang C, Draper B, Caughey GE, Evans K, Wesselingh S, Crotty M, Whitehead C, Inacio MC. Int. Psychogeriatr. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To characterize the features of aged care users who died by suicide and examine the use of mental health services and psychopharmacotherapy in the year before death.
DESIGN: Population-based, retrospective exploratory study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Individuals who died while accessing or waiting for permanent residential aged care (PRAC) or home care packages in Australia between 2008 and 2017. MEASUREMENTS: Linked datasets describing aged care use, date and cause of death, health care use, medication use, and state-based hospital data collections.
RESULTS: Of 532,507 people who died, 354 (0.07%) died by suicide, including 81 receiving a home care package (0.17% of all home care package deaths), 129 in PRAC (0.03% of all deaths in PRAC), and 144 approved for but awaiting care (0.23% of all deaths while awaiting care). Factors associated with death by suicide compared to death by another cause were male sex, having a mental health condition, not having dementia, less frailty, and a hospitalization for self-injury in the year before death. Among those who were awaiting care, being born outside Australia, living alone, and not having a carer were associated with death by suicide. Those who died by suicide more often accessed Government-subsidized mental health services in the year before their death than those who died by another cause.
CONCLUSIONS: Older men, those with diagnosed mental health conditions, those living alone and without an informal carer, and those hospitalized for self-injury are key targets for suicide prevention efforts.
Language: en |