A systematic review of suicidal behaviour in old age: A gender perspective

Journal of Clinical Nursing

Volumn 20, Issue 15-16, 2011, Pages 2109-2124

  Fung, Yuen Ling ^a   Chan, Zenobia Cy ^b  

^a CASTLE PEAK HOSPITAL   (Hong Kong)

^b HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

Behaviour; Gender perspective; Nurses; Nursing; Older people; Review

Indexed keywords

EID: 79960369685     PISSN: 09621067     EISSN: 13652702     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03649.x     Document Type: Review

References (41)

1. Barnow S, Linden M & Freyberger HJ (2004) The relation between suicidal feelings and mental disorders in the elderly: results from the Berlin Aging Study (BASE). Psychological Medicine 34, 741-746.
2. Bradvik L & Berglund M (2009) Repetition and severity of suicide attempts across the life cycle: a comparison by age group between suicide victims and controls with severe depression. BMC Psychiatry 9, 62-68.
3. Buckley NA, Dawson AH, Whyte IM, Hazell P, Meza A & Britt H (1996) An analysis of age and gender influences on the relative risk for suicide and psychotropic drug self-poisoning. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 93, 168-171.
4. Chiu HFK, Takahashi Y & Suh GH (2003) Elderly suicide prevention in East Asia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 18, 973-976.
5. Clarke CS, Bannon FJ & Denihan A (2003) Suicide and religiosity-Masaryk's theory revisited. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 38, 502-506.
6. Conwell Y, Duberstein PR, Cox C, Herrmann JH, Forbes NT & Caine ED (1996) Relationships of age and axis I diagnoses in victims of completed suicide: a psychological autopsy study. The American Journal of Psychiatry 153, 1001-1008.
7. Conwell Y, Duberstein PR & Caine ED (2002) Risk factors for suicide in later life. Biological Psychiatry 52, 193-204.
8. Deisenhammer EA, Huber M, Kemmler G, Weiss EM & Hinterhuber H (2007) Suicide victims' contacts with physicians during the year before death. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 257, 480-485.
9. Dombrovski AY, Szanto K, Duberstein P, Conner KR, Houck PR & Conwell Y (2008) Sex differences in correlates of suicide attempt lethality in later life. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 16, 905-913.
10. Erlangsen A, Bille-Brahe U & Jeune B (2003) Differences in suicide between the old and the oldest old. The Journals of Gerontology 58B, S314-S322.
11. Erlangsen A, Jeune B, Bille-Brahe U & Vaupel JW (2004) Loss of partner and suicide risks among oldest old: a population-based register study. Age and Ageing 33, 378-383.
12. Flick U, Kardorff EV & Steinke I (2004) A Companion to Qualitative Research. SAGE, London.
13. Fushimi M, Sugawara J & Saito S (2006) Comparison of completed and attempted suicide in Akita, Japan. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 60, 289-295.
14. Ichimura A, Matsumoto H, Aoki T, andoh H, Yano H, Nakagawa Y, Yamamoto I & Inokuchi S (2005) Characteristics of suicide attempters with depressive disorders. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 59, 590-594.
15. Iribarren C, Sidney S, Jacobs DR & Weisner C (2000) Hospitalization for suicide attempt and completed suicide: epideminological features in a managed care population. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 35, 288-296.
16. Jordan JR (2001) Is suicide bereavement different? A reassessment of the literature Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour 31, 91-102.
17. Kposowa AJ & McElvain JP (2006) Gender, place and method of suicide. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 41, 435-443.
18. Li G (1995) The interaction effect of bereavement and sex on the risk of suicide in the elderly: an historical cohort study. Social Science and Medicine 40, 825-828.
19. Masocco M, Pompili M, Vichi M, Vanacore N, Lester D & Tatarelli R (2008) Suicide and marital status in Italy. Psychiatric Quarterly 79, 275-285.
20. Mello-Santos CB, Bertolote JM & Wang YP (2005) Epidemiology of suicide in Brazil (1980-2000). Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatri 27, 131-134.
21. Parker LD, Cantrell C & Demi AS (1997) Older adults' attitudes towards suicide: are there race and gender difference? Death Studies 21, 289-298.
22. Pavia M, Nicotera G, Scaramuzza G & Angelillo IF & The Collaborative Group (2005). Suicide mortality in Southern Italy: 1998-2002. Psychiatry Research 134, 275-279.
23. Preti A & Miotto P (1998) Seasonality in suicides: the influence of suicide method, gender and age on suicide distribution in Italy. Psychiatry Research 81, 219-231.
24. Pritchard C (1996) Suicide in the People's Republic of China categorized by age and gender: evidence of the influence of culture on suicide. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 93, 362-367.
25. Public Health Resource Unit, England. (2006) Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). Available at: (accessed 2 February 2010).
26. Scocco P, Meneghel G, Caon F, Dello Buono M & De Leo D (2001) Death ideation and its correlates: survey of an over-65-year-old population. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 189, 210-218.
27. Shneidman ES (1969) On the Nature of Suicide. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
28. Szanto K, Gildengers A, Mulsant BH, Brown G, Alexopoulos GS & Reynolds CF (2002) Identification of suicidal ideation and prevention of suicidal behaviour in the elderly. Drugs and Aging 19, 11-24.
29. The Psychology Wiki (2010) Old Age. Available at: (accessed 7 March 2010).
30. United Nations (2007) World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision, Highlights. Working paper no. ESA/P/WP.202.
31. United Nations Economic and Social Council (2000) Concise Report on World Population Monitoring, 2000: Population, Gender and Development. Available at: (accessed May 27, 2010).
32. Waern M (2003) Alcohol dependence and misuse in elderly suicides. Alcohol & Alcoholism 38, 249-254.
33. Waern M, Rubenowitz E, Runeson B, Skoog I, Wilhelmson K & Allebeck P (2002) Burden of illness and suicide in elderly people: case-control study. British Medical Journal 324, 1355-1357.
34. World Health Organization (2010a) Definition of an Older or Elderly Person. Available at: (accessed 27 May 2010).
35. World Health Organization (2010b) Suicide. Available at: (accessed 6 March 2010).
36. World Health Organization (2010c) What Do We Mean by 'Sex' and 'Gender'? Available at: (accessed 6 March 2010).
37. Wu AYK & Chan WF (2007) Clinical determinants and short-term prognosis of suicidal behaviours in Chinese Older Persons in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry 17, 81-86.
38. Yip PSF, Chi I & Yu KK (1998) An epidemiological profile of elderly suicides in Hong Kong. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 13, 631-637.
39. Yip PSF, Callanan C & Yuen HP (2000) Urban/rural and gender differentials in suicide rates: east and west. Journal of Affective Disorders 57, 99-106.
40. Yip PSF, Chi I, Chiu HF, Kwan CW, Conwell Y & Caine E (2003) A prevalence study of suicide ideation among older adults in Hong Kong SAR. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 18, 1056-1062.
41. Yip PSF, Liu KY, Hu J & Song XM (2005) Suicide rate in China during a decade of rapid social changes. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 40, 792-298.