Trends in age band-specific suicide rates among elderly people in England and Wales

The elderly suicide rate in recent years in England and Wales has been declining for both sexes.

Data on the various suicide variables were ascertained from the annually published mortality data for years 1985 to 1998. Trends in the age band-specific elderly suicide rates in recent years were examined using this data.

The main findings of this study were: (i) there was a decline in the 'pure' and 'combined' suicide rates, for both sexes, for the four five-year age bands between 65 and 85 years, but not for the older age groups; and (ii) for all age bands, male suicide rates were higher than female suicide rates.

The challenge now is to facilitate decline in suicide rates in the very old given that demographic changes imply more people in that age group and absence of current evidence of decline in the very old age bands.