LUND, Sweden, Oct 1, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Swedish researchers studying
suicide among the aged with severe depression found gender was a factor.
The study, published in BMC Psychiatry, found from middle age onward, repeated
suicide attempts are a risk factor for suicide in women and so are severe
attempts for men.
Louise Bradvik and Mats Berglund of Lund University in Sweden looked at suicide
attempts in 100 patients who committed suicide and in an age- and sex-matched
control group.
"Men and women showed different patterns of suicide attempts in the older age
groups. The risk for an initial suicide attempt reduced with age in all females
and in male controls, but not in male victims, repetition and severity then
showing a special pattern," Bradvik said in a statement.
"In other words, though all suicide attempts should be taken seriously, an older
woman who makes a repeated attempt is at higher risk for suicide and needs more
observation and treatment than a young female repeater. Correspondingly, an
older man who makes a severe attempt -- or an initial attempt -- is in need of
more observation."
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