Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Türk Geriatri Dergisi, cilt.23, sa.1, ss.82-89, 2020 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus, TRDizin)
Introduction: Ageing is a physiological process, and inevitable psychologicaland physical changes occur after the age of 65 in every individual. Elderly suicide isa crucial public health concern that is still largely ignored worldwide. The purposeof this study is to investigate the use of emergency medical services by geriatricpatients due to suicide.Materials and Method: We obtained the demographic and clinical informationof the patients from the records. We retrospectively examined the data of allpatients, who are 65 and older, enrolled in Turkey for the suicide attempt betweenSeptember 2018 and August 2019.Results: Our study included 769 cases. There was a statistically significantdifference between the two genders in terms of the number of completed suicides (p<0.001). The most common suicide method was drug use (30.8%). In total, 36.7% ofwomen and 62.7% of men used violent methods for suicide. We found a statisticallysignificant difference between the groups in terms of violent method usage (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between the age groups interms of completed suicide percentages (p = 0.008), and the cases reported fromurban and rural areas in terms of mortality (p <0.001).Conclusion: The percentage of completed suicides increases with age, and thecareful evaluation of suicide attempts is vital in reducing the risk of suicide-relateddeath. The process starting from the moment of notification of suicide attempt tothe emergency dispatch centre must be managed effectively and quickly by trainedand experienced medical teams.