Abstract

Background: Older adults have high rates of suicide in most countries, and a history of suicide attempts is consistently cited as one of the strongest predictors of future suicidal behavior.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The medical records of all patients aged 65 years and older who presented to the emergency department (ED) of a tertiary teaching hospital after a deliberate self-poisoning (DSP) event between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2016, were retrospectively reviewed. The following variables were considered: age, sex, history of suicide attempts, occupation, living condition (with or without family), alcohol co-ingestion, previous psychiatric history and reason for the suicide attempts. The DSP patients were classified into the following two groups according to the number of suicide attempts: the first attempt group and the reattempt group.

Results: Of the 129 patients, 30 (23%) patients presented with repeated suicide attempts. The patients with repeated suicide attempts differed in sex, living condition, and history of psychiatric treatment. In the multivariate regression analysis, only living condition (without family) (odds ratio (OR): 3.73, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.25–11.11, p = 0.018) and history of psychiatric treatment (OR: 4.52, 95% CI: 1.70–12.00, p = 0.002) were reliably associated with repeated suicide attempts.

Conclusion: In older adults with DSP, targeted prevention strategies are required for patients who do not live with family and have a history of psychiatric treatment.