FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WISH TO DIE IN ELDERLY PEOPLE

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of the wish to die in eld erly people and investigate the factors associated with it, in particu lar, whether factors other than depression contribute to the wish to d ie. Data were obtained from an Australian epidemiological survey of pe ople aged 70 or more. Survey participants were asked whether, in the l ast two weeks, they had felt that they wanted to die and, if so, if th ey had had such thoughts repeatedly. Three classes of possible risk fa ctors were investigated: sociodemographic factors (age, sex, marital s tatus), mental health (depression, cognitive impairment), and physical health (poor self-rated health, disability, pain, sensory impairment, and living in a nursing home or hostel). Only 21 of 923 elderly perso ns reported repeatedly having had a wish to die during the previous tw o weeks. Although the wish to die was associated with depression, ther e were several other factors also associated with it independently of depression: not being married, poor self-rated health, disability, pai n, hearing impairment, visual impairment, living in a nursing home or hostel. A small minority expressed the wish to die but had a normal mo od state. It was concluded that the wish to die is associated with sev eral factors in addition to depression and may be present in individua ls with few depressive symptoms. There is a need to investigate whethe r factors associated with the wish to die are treatable and whether th is can restore the desire to live.