Suicide ideation, suicide attempts, their sociodemographic and clinical associates among the elderly Chinese patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Background: It is still unknown whether many well-identified risk factors of suicide could be applied to the elderly Chinese patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: 1-month suicidal ideation and lifetime suicide attempts together with their sociodemographic and clinical associates were analyzed by retrospective data on 263 elderly patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders at the Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen, China. T-tests and Chi-square tests were used to examine the differences between patients with and without suicidality. Backward stepwise logistic regression was performed to identify the associated factors.

Results: Among the selected patients, 17.87% had 1-month suicide ideation and 7.60% had lifetime suicide attempts. It was further observed that the elderly patients with schizophrenia who had 1-month suicide ideation were more likely to report lifetime suicide attempts, suffer from severe hopelessness and negative symptoms, and have no pension. However, the backward stepwise logistic regression analyses revealed that lifetime suicide attempts and negative symptoms were most significantly associated with 1-month suicide ideation. In contrast, lifetime suicide attempters were more likely to be men, receive a pension, display symptoms of hopelessness, have longer duration of illness and poor family relationships. The regression analyses also indicated that only hopelessness, relatively long duration of schizophrenia, and poor family relationships were the most significantly associated with lifetime suicide attempts.

Limitations: The retrospective design do not allow for causal inferences.

Conclusions: Early interventions designed to decrease hopelessness, control negative symptoms, and improve family relationships may result in reduced risks of suicide among elderly Chinese patients with schizophrenia.