Characteristics of Chinese suicide attempters admitted to a geropsychiatric unit

Purpose To investigate the characteristics for elderly Chinese suicide atte mpters in Taiwan and make comparisons with Western reports. Methods During a six-year period, patients admitted to a geropsychiatric un it as a result of a suicide attempt were investigated for factors related t o the suicide attempt. Results Of the 722 admissions during this period, 55 (7.6%) were patients w ho had been admitted due to suicide attempt. The sex and age distributions for the suicide attempters were similar to those for other patients. The mo st common diagnoses were depressive disorders (56.4%), followed by delusion al disorders (20.0%). A total of 121 suicide motives were cited for the 55 attempters, an average of 2.2 per person, with depressive symptoms commonly found on admission. During the first week of hospitalization, 53 attempter s (96.4%) still exhibited suicidal ideation and six patients made a further suicide attempt, however, only three patients retained suicidal ideation o n discharge. Conclusions Our study confirms previous Western reports that depressive dis orders are commonly manifested in elderly suicide attempters. There were di fferences in the motives and methods employed for the suicides, possibly du e to cultural difference and/or sample source. Most of the suicide attempte rs exhibited a favourable response with hospitalization. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.