Telephone Interventions Lower Suicide Rate in Elderly Women

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Telephone Interventions Lower Suicide Rate in Elderly Women

A telephone help-line combined with a 24-hour emergency service has helped to reduce the rate of suicide in elderly Italian women, report researchers in the British Journal of Psychiatry. An initial 4-year study of the TeleHelp TeleCheck service, a twice-weekly telephone support and 24-hour alarm response network implemented in the Veneto region of northern Italy for people at somatic or psychological risk, revealed a lower than expected suicide rate among its users.

To examine the long-term effects of the service in the elderly population, Jonathan Dwyer (Griffith University, Queensland, Australia) and co-workers analyzed data from 18,641 users of the service between 1988 and 1998.

The majority of the service users were widowed (68%), female (84%), lived alone (73%), were partially self-sufficient (63%), and had a mean age of 79.97 years.

Dwyer et al report that, compared with general population of the region, the number of observed suicides over the 11 years was significantly lower than was expected, with just 28.8% of the expected mortality actually occurring (n=6 vs n=21).

Interestingly, however, this appeared to be gender specific, with just two of the expected 12 suicides in women occurring, but no statistically significant difference between the expected and actual suicides for men.

"The present evaluation of the TeleHelp - Telecheck service is unique in being a rate example of a long-term longitudinal naturalistic study of an intervention to prevent suicide in older people," the researchers comment.

With further research planned to investigate the lack of benefit in men, they conclude: "Active outreach, continuity of care and increased level of emotional support seem to be key elements in providing protection against suicide, at least in females."

Br J Psychiatry 2002; 181: 226?229

http://www.psychiatrymatters.md/news/2002/week_37/day_2/p_0000052217.asp

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