Premium
Some predictors of mortality in acutely medically ill elderly inpatients
Author(s) -
Shah Ajit,
Hoxey Katharina,
Mayadunne Vidurath
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/1099-1166(200006)15:6<493::aid-gps150>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - suicidal ideation , depression (economics) , pessimism , psychology , poison control , psychiatry , injury prevention , multivariate analysis , medicine , psychological intervention , clinical psychology , emergency medicine , philosophy , epistemology , economics , macroeconomics
Background The prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation in acutely medically ill elderly inpatients is high. Depression and suicidal ideation are associated with increased mortality. Method The following were examined among acutely medically ill elderly inpatients: the association between mortality at 6–8 month follow‐up period and Brief Assessment Scale (BAS‐DEP) depression caseness and scores, using BAS‐DEP items of ‘a wish to die’, ‘pessimism’ and ‘life not worth living’, functional disability measured by the London Handicap Scale (LHS) and the Barthel Index (BI), suicidal ideation measured by the Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale (BSSI), severity of physical illness, previous deliberate self‐harm and demographic variables. Results On univariate analysis, significant associations between mortality and being married, previous deliberate self‐harm, higher scores on the BAS‐DEP item of pessimism, lower scores on the LHS and the BI and higher scores on the BSSI were observed. On multivariate analysis only LHS scores and BSSI scores independently predicted mortality. Conclusions It is hypothesized that suicidal ideation and functional disability may have a causal effect on mortality. This hypothesis could be tested by early identification of suicidal ideation and/or functional disability and subsequent interventions specifically designed to improve these two facets using a randomized controlled design. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.