Correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly depressed sample

Background: Suicidal ideation has been shown to be strongly associated with suicide completion and elders take their own lives more than any other age group. Methods: The present study examined clinical and phenomenological correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly sample ( n=167) derived from subjects enrolled in the Duke Clinical Research Center for the Study of Depression in Late Life. Results: Bivariate results indicated that clinical variables associated with psychomotor retardation, a history of dysthymia, a previous psychiatric in-patient stay, and being a ‘younger’ elder were related to greater suicidal ideation. Multivariate analyses indicated that feeling guilty, sinful, or worthless was associated with over six times greater odds of having suicidal thoughts. Limitations: Findings are based on correlational analyses, and thus, the direction of causality cannot be inferred. Conclusions: This study provides evidence for clinicians of some of the ‘red flags’ associated with the presence of suicidal ideation among depressed older adults.