High rate of antidepressant treatment in elderly people who commit suicide

Abstract
Seventy five Scandinavian born people aged 65 or over (40 men, 35 women) committed suicide and were examined by the Goteborg Institute of Forensic Medicine from January 1994 to July 1995. The median age was 73 years (range 65–97). Sixty suicides were classified as certain—that is, there was no doubt of suicidal intention according to the forensic examiner (ICD9, E950-959)—and 15 as uncertain (E980-989); this group consisted mainly of lethal overdoses without a suicide note. The catchment area included Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city, and two surrounding counties, with an elderly (>/=65) population of 210 703. Data from Statistics Sweden, available only for 1994, revealed that 90% of all reported cases of suicide among elderly people in the catchment area underwent necropsy at the institute that year.