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(brechin A Et Al. 2000). this Purely Economic Assessment Would Have To ...

(Brechin A et al. 2000).

This purely economic assessment would have to observe that the young are much more likely to be in employment and less likely to be a burden on the economic status of the country whereas with the elderly exactly the converse is likely to be true. This results in economic prominence being give to the death of a younger person in many reviews. (Alcock P, 2003). There is also the fact that, despite the fact that we have already highlighted the increase in relative frequency of suicide in the elderly, because of the demographic distributions of the population in the UK, the absolute numbers of both attempted suicides and actual suicides are greater in the younger age ranges and therefore more readily apparent and obvious.

The elderly are a particularly vulnerable group from the risk of suicide. In the industrialised world males over the age of 75 represent the single largest demographic group in terms of suicide attempts. Interestingly (and for reasons that we shall shortly discuss) although there is a general trend of increasing suicide rate with age the excess rates associated with the elderly are slowly declining in the recent past (Cattell 2000).

We can quantify this statement by considering the statistics. If we consider the period 1983 to 1995 in the UK then we can show that:
The suicide rates for men reduced by between 30% and 40% in the age groups 5564, 6574 and 7584
The rates for the most elderly men (males over 85 years) remained fairly static, this group still having the highest rates of any group
By way of contrast, the 25- to 34-year-old male group exhibited a 30% increase in suicide rate during the same period, this group are becoming the group with the second highest rate, while the 15- to 24-year-old male group demonstrated a 55% increase in suicide rates. (WHO 2001)

Female suicide rates have shown a similar overall decrease, reducing by between 45 and 60% in the 4584 age group.
Elderly women, however, retain the highest rates throughout the life span (Cattell 2000)
The ratio of male to female elderly suicide deaths remains approximately 3:1 (Fischer L R et al. 2003)


We can suggest that these trends in reduction of suicide, particularly in the elderly are likely to be due, amongst other things, to:
The improved detection of those at risk together with the advent of aggressive treatment policies relating to mental illness in the elderly. (Waern M et al.

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