Suicide in centenarians: The international landscape

Abstract

Background. The elderly population size is growing worldwide due increased life expectancy and decreased mortality in the elderly. This has lead to an increase in the number of centenarians, and their numbers are predicted to increase further. Little is known about suicide rates in centenarians. Methods. Data on the number of suicides (ICD-10 codes, X60-84) in centenarians of both gender for as many years as possible from 2000 were ascertained from three sources: colleagues, national statisics office websites and e-mail contact with the national statistics offices of as many countries as possible. The number of centernarians for the corresponding years was estimated for each country using da..