Citation

Upadhyaya AK, Conwell Y, Duberstein PR, Denning D, Cox C. Am. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 1999; 7(4): 317-320.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Biostatistics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10521164

Abstract

The authors explored cognitive functioning and suicidal behavior in older depressed patients. Inpatients age 50 years or older (N=103) with major depression, 45 of whom had attempted suicide, were evaluated within 1 week of their hospital admission. Measures of suicidal behavior included suicide attempter status, the Suicide Intent Scale (SIS), ratings of method used (violent/nonviolent), and seriousness of injuries sustained (lethality). The Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) score measured cognitive impairment; covariates were age, gender, and living arrangement. The MMSE score was not associated with suicide attempter status, but for attempters, MMSE score showed a positive association with SIS score, but not method or lethality. Findings suggest that although cognitive disturbance may be associated with less-deliberate acts among older depressed suicide attempters, it does not appear to influence the potential lethality of their behavior.

Language: en