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Oregon's Elder Suicide Rate Tops National Average, Study Says
The Associated Press
August 24, 2005
An 18-month study by the Oregon Department of Human Services has found that the state's elder suicide rate is consistently higher than the national average.
National suicide rates among those 65 and older have hovered around 15 to 20 per 100,000 since 1990. Oregon's rate is consistently higher, with rates between 20 and 30 per 100,000.
Nationwide and in Oregon, the elderly have the highest suicide rate of any age group. The report also shows that white males are significantly more likely to commit suicide than any other demographic, a tendency that also increases with age.
Lisa Millet, injury and violence prevention manager with the Department of Human Services, said one of the report's most important findings is that nearly all elderly people who die by suicide were dealing with other health concerns at the time of their death.
That means that there needs to be more focus on training primary-care physicians to recognize and treat the warning signs of suicide among the elderly, she said.
"We've been really concerned in our state for a long time with youth suicide," Millet said. "It's one of the problems among the elderly that they are isolated and forgotten, and not cared about that much. We live in a society that's really focused on youth and children."
Ezra Ochshorn, an information specialist with the Florida Mental Health Institute in Tampa, Fla., said the United States' youth-focused culture has kept awareness of elder suicide at a minimum. Even in Florida, which has a large elderly population, Ochshorn said there is no quicker way to bring a health care conversation to a halt than to bring up elder suicide.
The elder suicide data was unsurprising to David Nardone of Hillsboro, a physician retired from Portland's Veterans Affairs hospital.
Nardone said trying to get experts, families and caregivers together to talk about elder suicide is a "nightmare."
He said reasons older people consider suicide include the loss of a spouse, financial loss, loneliness and health problems resulting in chronic pain.
Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonian.com
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