Death wishes in the very elderly: data from a 3-year follow-up study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to study the 3-year outcome of death wishes in an elderly population. METHOD: 1099 very elderly people were examined extensively by physicians, including a structured psychiatric interview. Three years later those who had survived were re-examined (n = 683) using a similar procedure. RESULTS: Of the sample, 11.6% (n = 128) had death wishes at the first examination and 8.9% (n = 54) at the follow-up. Of the 54, 17 have had death wishes persistently during the 3-year period; all of them had psychiatric diagnoses. Of those having death wishes at one of the examinations 70% had psychiatric diagnoses. Attrition was more common in the group with death wishes than in the group without when age, gender, somatic disorders including dementia and disability in daily living were taken into account. CONCLUSION: This study shows that there is a need for a psychiatric examination when elderly people express death wishes.