Elderly suicides: a need for prevention
Hart-Hester, S.
Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association 44(6): 167-172
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 0026-6396 PMID: 14524133 Document Number: 564250
Every 18 minutes a life is lost to suicide. Approximately every hour and a half, an elderly adult age 65 and over takes his/her life by suicide. Despite a decline in the rate of suicides over the past several years, suicides by elderly white males remains high. This paper provides a descriptive epidemiology of elderly suicides in a southern rural population and discusses implications for preventive health services that must be implemented to decrease the number of successful elderly suicides.