Suicidality-based prediction of suicide attempts in a community-dwelling elderly population: Results from the Osan Mental Health Survey

BACKGROUND: Data on outcomes of suicidality in the community-dwelling elderly are scarce. We investigated the association of suicidality with the suicide attempts in a community-dwelling elderly cohort. METHODS: In the Osan Mental Health Survey, 848 randomly sampled elderly Koreans participated in the baseline evaluation, 623 completed 2-year follow-up evaluation and 32 died during the follow-up period. The survey was conducted between February 2010 and January 2013. We evaluated suicidality using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview suicidality module that includes both suicidal ideation and attempts. RESULTS: The incidences of suicidality and suicide attempts were 70.7 and 13.1 per 1000 persons per year, respectively. Suicidality was associated with increased risk of suicide attempts (odds ratio (OR)=3.84, 95% CI=1.06-13.87). Two men with suicidality committed suicide by self-poisoning. Moderate to high intensity daily exercise decreased the risk of suicidality to become persistent or recurrent (OR=0.32, 95% CI=0.12-0.81). Low education level (OR=2.41, 95% CI=1.21-4.77) and depression (OR=3.02, 95% CI=1.65-5.53) were associated with risk of incident suicidality. LIMITATIONS: Study sample was enrolled from a single city of Korea, and the size of the study sample was small. CONCLUSIONS: We may reduce suicide attempts by screening for suicidality and implementing exercise programs in community-dwelling elderly people. Language: en