Care service use in 2 years preceding suicide amon

Authors: Leena Forma Mari Aaltonen Jutta Pulkki Jani Raitanen Pekka Rissanen Marja Jylhä

Publish Date: 2016/10/04

Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 143-153

PDF Link

Abstract

The aim of the study is 1 to describe and analyse health and social service use and medicine purchases in the last 2 years of life among older adults who died by suicide and 2 to compare use and purchases between three groups those who died by suicide died a natural death or who lived longer Nationwide Finnish register data were used The data consist of 316639 decedents who died at the age of 70 years or older in 1998–2008 and 222967 people who lived longer Use of hospital longterm care and home care and the purchase of prescribed psychotropic medications were studied for the 2year period Binary logistic regression analyses were applied 1118 older adults died by suicide 04  of all deaths A majority of older adults who died by suicide had multiple somatic diseases and mental disorders especially depression and had contact with health and social services in the last 2 years of life At the same level of morbidity use of hospital and longterm care was less common among those who died by suicide than among those who died of natural causes but more common than among those who lived longer Those who died by suicide received less home care than those who lived longer A high proportion of suicides occurred in the first month following hospital discharge Health and social services should improve support for older adults with chronic diseases and depression

Keywords: