BMJ  2004;329 (16 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7471.0-d

Elderly people are at greater risk of suicide

Elderly people have a higher risk of completed suicide than other age groups, and prevention and management should focus more on this group of people. In a review, O'Connell and colleagues (p 895) explain how psychiatric illnesses (most notably depression), certain personality traits, and neurological illnesses and malignancies are associated with a high risk of suicide. Social isolation and being divorced, widowed, or single also increase the risk. People who have attempted suicide are at higher risk of subsequently being successful.

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