scholarly journals Suicide risk within 1 year of dementia diagnosis in older adults: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. E119-E127
Author(s):  
Jae Woo Choi ◽  
Kang Soo Lee ◽  
Euna Han

Background: Although severe dementia could protect against suicide death by decreasing a person’s capacity to implement a suicide plan, patients with early dementia may have better cognition, giving them more sustained insight into their disease and better enabling them to carry out a suicide plan. This study investigated suicide risk in older adults within 1 year of receiving a diagnosis of dementia. Methods: This study used National Health Insurance Service Senior Cohort data and included 36 541 older adults with newly diagnosed dementia (a Mini-Mental State Examination score ≤ 26 and a Clinical Dementia Rating score ≥ 1 or a Global Deterioration Scale score ≥ 3), including Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia and other/unspecified dementia, from 2004 to 2012. We selected older adults without dementia through 1:1 propensity-score matching using sex, age, comorbidities and index year, with follow-up throughout 2013. We estimated adjusted hazard ratios (AHRs) of suicide deaths within 1 year after diagnosis using a time-dependent Cox proportional hazards model. Results: We verified 46 suicide deaths during the first year after a dementia diagnosis. Older adults with dementia had an increased risk of suicide death compared to those without dementia (AHR 2.57; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.49–4.44). Older adults with Alzheimer disease (AHR 2.50; 95% CI 1.41–4.44) or other/unspecified dementia (AHR 4.32; 95% CI 2.04–9.15) had an increased risk of suicide death compared to those without dementia. Patients with dementia but without other mental disorders (AHR 1.96; 95% CI 1.02–3.77) and patients with dementia and other mental disorders (AHR 3.22; 95% CI 1.78–5.83) had an increased risk of suicide death compared to patients without dementia. Patients with dementia and schizophrenia (AHR 8.73; 95% CI 2.57–29.71), mood disorders (AHR 2.84; 95% CI 1.23–6.53) or anxiety or somatoform disorders (AHR 3.53; 95% CI 1.73–7.21), respectively, had an increased risk of suicide death compared to patients with those conditions but without dementia. Limitations: This study examined only elderly patients in South Korea, a population with a substantially higher suicide rate than the global population. Caution must be exercised when generalizing the results to populations with dissimilar backgrounds. Conclusion: Patients with dementia had an increased risk of suicide death within 1 year after diagnosis compared to those without dementia.

Author(s):  
Yuko Yamaguchi ◽  
Marta Zampino ◽  
Toshiko Tanaka ◽  
Stefania Bandinelli ◽  
Yusuke Osawa ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Anemia is common in older adults and associated with greater morbidity and mortality. The causes of anemia in older adults have not been completely characterized. Although elevated circulating growth and differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) has been associated with anemia in older adults, it is not known whether elevated GDF-15 predicts the development of anemia. Methods We examined the relationship between plasma GDF-15 concentrations at baseline in 708 non-anemic adults, aged 60 years and older, with incident anemia during 15 years of follow-up among participants in the Invecchiare in Chianti (InCHIANTI) Study. Results During follow-up, 179 (25.3%) participants developed anemia. The proportion of participants who developed anemia from the lowest to highest quartile of plasma GDF-15 was 12.9%, 20.1%, 21.2%, and 45.8%, respectively. Adults in the highest quartile of plasma GDF-15 had an increased risk of developing anemia (Hazards Ratio 1.15, 95% Confidence Interval 1.09, 1.21, P<.0001) compared to those in the lower three quartiles in a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, sex, serum iron, soluble transferrin receptor, ferritin, vitamin B12, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and cancer. Conclusions Circulating GDF-15 is an independent predictor for the development of anemia in older adults.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Schmutte ◽  
Mark Olfson ◽  
Donovan T. Maust ◽  
Ming Xie ◽  
Steven C. Marcus

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Woo Choi ◽  
Kang Soo Lee ◽  
Euna Han

Abstract Background This study aims to investigate suicide risk within one year of receiving a diagnosis of cognitive impairment in older adults without mental disorders. Methods This study used National Health Insurance Service-Senior Cohort data on older adults with newly diagnosed cognitive impairment including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, other/unspecified dementia, and mild cognitive impairment from 2004 to 2012. We selected 41,195 older adults without cognitive impairment through 1:1 propensity score matching using age, gender, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and index year, with follow-up throughout 2013. We eliminated subjects with mental disorders and estimated adjusted hazard ratios (AHR) of suicide deaths within one year after diagnosis using the Cox proportional hazards models. Results We identified 49 suicide deaths during the first year after cognitive impairment diagnosis. The proportion of observed suicide deaths was the highest within one year after cognitive impairment diagnosis (48.5% of total); older adults with cognitive impairment were at a higher suicide risk than those without cognitive impairment (AHR, 1.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18–3.04). Subjects with Alzheimer’s disease and other/unspecified dementia were at greater suicide risk than those without cognitive impairment (AHR, 1.94, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.12–3.38, 1.05–3.58). Suicide risk in female and young-old adults (60–74 years) with cognitive impairment was higher than in the comparison group (AHR, 2.61, 5.13; 95% CI, 1.29–5.28, 1.48–17.82). Conclusions Older patients with cognitive impairment were at increased suicide risk within one year of diagnosis. Early intervention for suicide prevention should be provided to older adults with cognitive impairment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S314-S314
Author(s):  
Amy Lai ◽  
Yixia Li ◽  
Amy Byers

Abstract Occurrence of new mental health (MH) disorders in patients with dementia is neglected, with next to nothing known. We examined association between dementia diagnosis and risk of new psychiatric disorders and suicide, and MH services use. We merged four national databases from US Department of Veterans Affairs. Sample included 2,529,181 patients (≥50 years) in fiscal years (FY) 2012-2013 with no MH disorders. Dementia, psychiatric disorders (mood, anxiety, substance), suicidal behavior (ideation, plan, attempt, death by suicide) were identified by ICD-9/10 codes and national suicide databases. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models, with time-to-event defined as age at first diagnosis of MH disorder during FY 2014-2016. Analyses adjusted for medical/sociodemographic factors. Compared to those without dementia, dementia patients showed roughly 2-fold increased risk of new mood (HR: 2.19, 95% Wald CI: 2.15-2.24, p<.001) or anxiety (HR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.50-1.63, p<.001) disorders. Recent dementia diagnosis was associated with highest risk of these disorders than prior or no diagnosis; for example, patients with recent diagnosis showed 72% greater risk of anxiety disorders (HR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.63-1.81, p<.001). Although patients with prior dementia diagnosis had lower risk of suicidal behavior, risk increased with recent dementia diagnosis. However, dementia patients with new MH disorders showed little MH services use (< 20%). Patients with dementia have increased risk of new MH disorders, especially recent dementia diagnosis. Furthermore, MH services are underutilized, highlighting critical need for integration of such services in caring for dementia patients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 218-228
Author(s):  
Gary Hodge

Purpose Suicide can be an emotive, and at times, controversial subject. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the social, health, personal, and cultural issues that can arise in later life and the potential reasons for suicide. It will analyse already recognised risk factors of suicide in older adults and focus on improving knowledge about the social meaning and causation of suicide for older people. It will also consider suicide prevention policies, their practice implications, and whether they are successful in protecting this potentially vulnerable cohort. Design/methodology/approach A synopsis of available literature in the form of a general review paper of suicide of older adults. Findings There is evidence that the ageing process often leads to a set of co-morbidities and a complex and diverse set of individual challenges. This in turn equates to an increased risk of suicide. There is no easy answer to why there is evidence of a growing number of older adults deciding that suicide is there only option, and even fewer suggestions on how to manage this risk. Social implications The entry of the “baby boom” generation into retirement will lead to the potential of an increase in both suicide risk factors and older adults completing suicide. This is on the background of a demographic surge which is likely to place additional pressures on already under-resourced, and undervalued, statutory and non-statutory services. Originality/value A literature search found very little information regarding older adults and suicide risk, assessment, treatment or prevention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kułak-Bejda ◽  
Grzegorz Bejda ◽  
Napoleon Waszkiewicz

More than 600 million people are aged 60 years and over are living in the world. The World Health Organization estimates that this number will double by 2025 to 2 billion older people. Suicide among people over the age of 60 is one of the most acute problems. The factors strongly associated with suicide are mentioned: physical illnesses, such as cancer, neurologic disorder, pain, liver disease, genital disorders, or rheumatoid disorders. Moreover, neurologic conditions, especially stroke, may affect decision-making processes, cognitive capacity, and language deficit. In addition to dementia, the most common mental disorders are mood and anxiety disorders. A common symptom of these disorders in the elderly is cognitive impairment. This study aimed to present the relationship between cognitive impairment due to dementia, mood disorders and anxiety, and an increased risk of suicide among older people. Dementia is a disease where the risk of suicide is significant. Many studies demonstrated that older adults with dementia had an increased risk of suicide death than those without dementia. Similar conclusions apply to prodromal dementia Depression is also a disease with a high risk of suicide. Many researchers found that a higher level of depression was associated with suicide attempts and suicide ideation. Bipolar disorder is the second entity in mood disorders with an increased risk of suicide among the elderly. Apart from suicidal thoughts, bipolar disorder is characterized by high mortality. In the group of anxiety disorders, the most significant risk of suicide occurs when depression is present. In turn, suicide thoughts are more common in social phobia than in other anxiety disorders. Suicide among the elderly is a serious public health problem. There is a positive correlation between mental disorders such as dementia, depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety and the prevalence of suicide in the elderly. Therefore, the elderly should be comprehensively provided with psychiatric and psychological support.


Neurology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (24) ◽  
pp. e3280-e3287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith A. Bock ◽  
Amber Bahorik ◽  
Willa D. Brenowitz ◽  
Kristine Yaffe

ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between baseline apathy and probable incident dementia in a population-based sample of community-dwelling older adults.MethodsWe studied 2,018 white and black community-dwelling older adults from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) study. We measured apathy at year 6 (our study baseline) with the modified Apathy Evaluation Scale and divided participants into tertiles based on low, moderate, or severe apathy symptoms. Incident dementia was ascertained over 9 years by dementia medication use, hospital records, or clinically relevant cognitive decline on global cognition. We examined the association between apathy and probable incident dementia using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, APOE4 status, and depressed mood. We also evaluated the association between the apathy group and cognitive change (as measured by the modified Mini-Mental State Examination and Digit Symbol Substitution Test over 5 years) using linear mixed effects models.ResultsOver 9 years of follow-up, 381 participants developed probable dementia. Severe apathy was associated with an increased risk of dementia compared to low apathy (25% vs 14%) in unadjusted (hazard ratio [HR] 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5–2.5) and adjusted models (HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3–2.2). Greater apathy was associated with worse cognitive score at baseline, but not rate of change over time.ConclusionIn a diverse cohort of community-dwelling adults, apathy was associated with increased risk of developing probable dementia. This study provides novel evidence for apathy as a prodrome of dementia.


1997 ◽  
Vol 170 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Clare Harris ◽  
Brian Barraclough

BackgroundMental disorders have a strong association with suicide. This meta-analysis, or statistical overview, of the literature gives an estimate of the suicide risk of the common mental disorders.MethodWe searched the medical literature to find reports on the mortality of mental disorders. English language reports were located on MEDLINE (1966–1993) with the search terms mental disorders', ‘brain injury’, ‘eating disorders’, ‘epilepsy’, ‘suicide attempt’, ‘psychosurgery’, with ‘mortality’ and ‘follow-up studies’, and from the reference lists of these reports. We abstracted 249 reports with two years or more follow-up and less than 10% loss of subjects, and compared observed numbers of suicides with those expected. A standardised mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated for each disorder.ResultsOf 44 disorders considered, 36 have a significantly raised SMR for suicide, five have a raised SMR which fails to reach significance, one SMR is not raised and for two entries the SMR could not be calculated.ConclusionsIf these results can be generalised then virtually all mental disorders have an increased risk of suicide excepting mental retardation and dementia. The suicide risk is highest for functional and lowest for organic disorders with substance misuse disorders lying between. However, within these broad groupings the suicide risk varies widely.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinkyung Cho ◽  
Inhwan Lee ◽  
Soo Hyun Park ◽  
Youngyun Jin ◽  
Donghyun Kim ◽  
...  

Background. Little is known regarding the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and frailty on mortality in Korea. Objective. This study investigated the combined impact of low SES and frailty on all-cause mortality in Korean older adults. Methods. Study sample at baseline comprised 7,960 community-dwelling adults (56.8% women) aged 65 years and older. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of low SES and frailty for all-cause mortality. Results. Overall, low SES plus frailty resulted in an increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.09–2.23, P=0.015) even after adjustments for all the measured covariates, as compared with high SES plus nonfrailty (HR = 1). Among older adults aged 65–75 years, the increased mortality risk of either low SES plus nonfrailty (HR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.02–1.84, P=0.038) or high SES plus frailty (HR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.12–3.91, P=0.021) remained significant even after adjustments for all the covariates, as compared with high SES plus nonfrailty (HR = 1). Conclusion. The current findings suggest that either low SES or frailty is significantly associated with increased all-cause mortality in Korean older adults.


2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. DUBERSTEIN ◽  
Y. CONWELL ◽  
K. R. CONNER ◽  
S. EBERLY ◽  
E. D. CAINE

Background. Mental disorders amplify suicide risk across the lifecourse, but most people with mental disorder do not take their own lives. Few controlled studies have examined the contribution of stressors to suicide risk.Method. A case–control design was used to compare 86 suicides and 86 controls aged 50 years and older, matched on age, gender, race and county of residence. Structured interviews were conducted with proxy respondents for suicides and controls.Results. Perceived physical illness, family discord and employment change amplified suicide risk after controlling for sociodemographic covariates and mental disorders that developed [ges ]1 year prior to death/interview. Only the effect of physical illness (OR 6·24, 95% CI 1·28–51·284) persisted after controlling for all active mental disorders.Conclusions. Interventions to decrease the likelihood of financial stress and to help families manage discord and severe physical illness may effectively reduce suicides among middle-aged and older adults.


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