Suicide-related bereavement and psychiatric morbidity in the elderly

Abstract

AbstractObjectives: We sought to determine whether elderly bereaved patients attending an old-age psychiatry service were more likely to have been bereaved through suicide than through other causes.Methods: We studied the demographic and clinical profiles of all patients attending an old-age psychiatry service who had experienced the death of an adult child. We compared the causes of the deaths of their children with the most recent figures for the national population.Results: Deaths from suicide among the children of the bereaved elderly were commoner than for the age-matched national population.Conclusions: Suicide is more likely than other causes of death to lead to psychiatric morbidity in elderly parents. The needs of elderly survivors should be considered in formulating national strategies for suicide prevention. Further studies are needed on risk factors for complicated bereavement in the elderly.