Highlights
- •What is the primary question addressed in this study? What are the risk and protective factors related to suicide outcomes among older veterans 65 years of age and older?
- •What is the main finding of this study? We found five domains of explanatory factors studied (i.e., neuropsychiatric, social determinants of health, aging stereotypes, residential and supportive housing settings, and multifactorial–neuropsychiatric/mental health and physical health) with more risk factors than protective factors reported.
- •What is the meaning of the finding? Our study suggests there are unique factors affecting risk of suicide for older veterans. Thus, more innovative targets to consider for intervention and more innovative methods to predict suicide in late-life are needed.
ABSTRACT
Older veterans are vastly underrepresented in studies that shape national suicide
prevention strategies. This is of great concern because factors that impact younger
veterans may not be as robust in later life. Although younger veterans have higher
rate of suicide, the highest counts of death by suicide are in older veterans. However,
it remains unclear from the extant literature what factors may influence increased
or decreased risk of late-life suicide in veterans. The objective of this systematic
review was to identify risk and protective factors related to suicide outcomes (i.e.,
ideation, attempt, death, or suicide-related behavior [SRB]) among older veterans.
Furthermore, it offers data regarding future study directions and hypothesis generation
for late-life suicide research and for informing potential intervention and prevention
efforts in this area. We searched 4 databases from inception up to May 5, 2022. We
screened 2,388 abstracts for inclusion and 508 articles required full text review.
The final sample included 19 studies published between 2006 and 2022. We found five
domains of factors studied (i.e., neuropsychiatric, social determinants of health,
aging stereotypes, residential and supportive housing settings, and multifactorial–neuropsychiatric/mental
health and physical health) with more risk factors than protective factors reported.
Across the three suicide outcomes only neuropsychiatric factors were consistently
identified as risk factors. Neuropsychiatric factors also comprised the largest group
of risk factors studied. More innovative targets to consider for intervention and
more innovative methods to predict suicide in late-life are needed. There is also
continued necessity to design suicide prevention interventions for older veterans
given lethality trends.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 11, 2022
Accepted:
November 8,
2022
Received in revised form:
October 20,
2022
Received:
August 4,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.
