Trends in the reported rates of suicide by self-poisoning in the elderly

Trends in the reported rates of suicide by self-poisoning in the elderly from 1974 to 1984 are presented. When all drugs were considered together there was evidence of a slow but progressive decline in age specific rates of suicide in both sexes over the period studied. When individual drugs were considered, however, the overall fall was attributable almost exclusively to a fall in suicides using barbiturates, which reflected the decrease in barbiturate prescribing over this time. Suicides using other drugs, particularly benzodiazepines and analgesics for mild to moderate pain, increased, particularly among elderly women, with coproxamol showing the biggest increase over the period studied. In many cases deaths were the result of multiple drug ingestion. Implications for the management of the elderly at risk are discussed in the context of the difficulties in identifying depressive illness in the elderly and the general rise in the elderly population.