The following paragraphs elaborate on each of these points. Several types of evidence point to depression in late life as a both potent and prevalent risk factor for suicide in late life. First, longitudinal studies of depressed psychiatric Rucaparib patients report suicide rates far higher than those in the general

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical population. An estimated 6% to 15% of psychiatric patients with major depression die by suicide.6 A 1-ycar follow-up study of psychiatric register cases observed that depressed patients aged 55 years or older had more than twice the rate of suicide (475/100 000) than younger depressed patients (207/ 100 000) .7 A second type of data implicating depression as a risk factor for suicide comes from studies of suicidal behavior, including attempted suicide Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and other suicidal gestures. Although

suicidal behavior does not always result in a completed suicide, it remains a very strong predictor of future completed suicides.8 A study of a large population of patients in a health insurance group reported a suicide rate close to 5 times higher for patients with depression than the population rate. A third Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical type of study reconstructs the psychological profiles of suicide victims. These psychological Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical autopsy studies have found depression to be the most common psychiatric diagnosis in elderly suicide victims.9,10 One study of elderly

suicide victims noted that 76% had diagnosable psychopathology and, of these, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 54% had major depression and 11% had minor depression.9 Another psychological autopsy study confirmed that depression is the most likely psychiatric diagnosis in elderly suicide victims.10 Major depression and other forms of depressive symptomatology are highly prevalent in elderly primary care patients.11 In general, the estimated Anacetrapib prevalence of major depression – measured with both semistructured and structured interviews – in geriatric Z-VAD-FMK purchase samples of primary care range between 6% and 9%.12,13 A substantial proportion of the remaining elderly primary care patients report minor depression or other forms of subsyndromal depressive symptomatology. Minor depression is relevant to the study of suicide, in part because psychological autopsy studies of suicide victims report that depression in these cases was more often mild or moderate than severe. Older patients who report suicidal ideation have also been found to be depressed, but they are not always severely depressed or functionally impaired.