Burden of illness and suicide in elderly people: case-control study

OBJECTIVES: To study the association between physical illness and suicide in elderly people. DESIGN: Case-control with illness determined from interviews with relatives of people who committed suicide and with control participants and from medical records. SETTING: Gothenburg and two surrounding counties (210 703 people aged 65 years and over). PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive records of people who had committed suicide and had undergone forensic examination (46 men, 39 women) and living control participants from the tax register (84 men, 69 women). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Physical illness rated in 13 organ systems according to the cumulative illness rating scale-geriatrics; serious physical illness (organ category score 3 or 4); overall score for burden of physical illness. RESULTS: Visual impairment (odds ratio 7.0, 95% confidence interval 2.3 to 21.4), neurological disorders (3.8, 1.5 to 9.4), and malignant disease (3.4, 1.2 to 9.8) were associated with increased risk for suicide. Serious physical illness in any organ category was an independent risk factor for suicide in the multivariate regression model (6.4, 2.0 to 20.0). When the sexes were analysed separately, serious physical illness was associated with suicide in men (4.2, 1.8 to 9.5) as was high burden of physical illness (2.8, 1.2 to 6.5). Such associations were not seen in women, possibly because of the small sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Visual impairment, neurological disorders, and malignant disease were independently associated with increased risk of suicide in elderly people. Serious physical illness may be a stronger risk factor for suicide in men than in women.