Are elderly suicide rates improved by increased provision of mental health service resources? A cross-national study

Abstract

Background: Elderly suicide rates may be influenced by mental health service provision. Methods: A cross-national study examining the hypothesis that the relationship between elderly suicide rates and markers of mental health service provision would be curvilinear (inverted-U shaped curve) and fit the quadratic equation y = a + bx - cx2 (where y is the elderly suicide rate, x is a marker for mental health service provision, and a, b and c are constants) was undertaken by utilizing data from the World Health Organization. Results: The relationship between the logarithm of suicide rates in both sexes in both the elderly age-bands and the percentage of the total health budget spent on mental he..