The Risk Factors of Suicidal Ideation by Age Groups among the Elderly in Korea

Eun Kyung Kim

doi:10.15384/kjhp.2015.15.2.54

Korean J Health Promot > Volume 15(2); 2015 > Article

Kim: The Risk Factors of Suicidal Ideation by Age Groups among the Elderly in Korea

Original Article

Korean Journal of Health Promotion 2015;15(2):54-62.

Published online: December 19, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2015.15.2.54

The Risk Factors of Suicidal Ideation by Age Groups among the Elderly in Korea

Eun Kyung Kim

Department of Nursing, Suwon Science College, Hwaseong, Korea

￭ Corresponding author：Eun Kyung Kim, PhD Department of Nursing, Suwon Science College, 288 Seja-ro, Jeongnam-myeon, Hwaseong 445-742, Korea
Tel: +82-31-350-2430, Fax: +82-31-350-2076 E-mail: ekkim430@ssc.ac.kr

Received September 30, 2014 Accepted May 22, 2015

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Background

This study aimed to compare the prevalence and risk factors of suicidal ideation by age groups among the elderly in Korea.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (V-3, 2012). The participants were divided into two age groups: the young-old (n=1,016, 65-74 years), old-old (n=579, 75 years or greater) groups. Multiple logistic regression was used for data analysis.

Results

The prevalence of suicidal ideation was 19.6% of young-old and 22.7% of old-old, respectively. There was no difference on prevalence of suicidal ideation by age groups. Risk factors of suicidal ideation differ by age groups. In the young-old group, higher suicidal ideation showed significant correlation with a higher level of depression, perceived stress and a lower level of education, self-rated health. In the old-old group, higher suici-dal ideation showed significant correlation with a higher level of depression, perceived stress, restriction of ac-tivity, and pain/discomfort.

Conclusions

Age group-specific nursing strategies may be required for prevention of suicidal ideation in elderly.

Keywords: Aged, Suicidal ideation, Risk factors

Table 1.

Characteristics and suicidal ideation according to age-specific groups (n=1,595)

Characteristics		Young-old elderly (n=1,016)	Old-old elderly (n=579)	χ²/t	P^a
Characteristics		Mean (±SD)/N (%)	Mean (±SD)/N (%)	χ²/t	P^a
Suicidal ideation	Yes	172 (19.6)	108 (22.7)	1.38	0.242
	No	774 (80.4)	375 (77.3)
Sociodemographic characteristics
Age, y Sex	Male	69.31 (±0.12) 452 (45.4)	78.68 (±0.18) 221 (34.9)	9.29	0.003
	Female	564 (54.6)	358 (65.1)
Education	≤Elementary	547 (60.5)	356 (77.3)	26.59	<0.001
	Middle≤	401 (39.5)	127 (22.7)
Living condition	With family	765 (75.4)	289 (47.4)	80.03	<0.001
Place of residence	Alone Rural	243 (24.6) 730 (70.6)	288 (52.6) 344 (59.1)	3.16	0.003
	Urban	286 (29.4)	235 (40.9)
Household income	1 quartile (lowest)	411 (41.7)	352 (65.2)	55.17	<0.001
	2 quartile≤	584 (58.3)	217 (34.8)
Health characteristics
Chronic disease	Yes No	388 (38.7) 628 (61.3)	211 (35.4) 368 (64.6)	1.07	0.301
Restriction of activity	Yes	153 (17.9)	104 (21.9)	1.68	0.197
	No	799 (82.1)	381 (78.1)
Pain/discomfort	Yes	264 (27.8)	188 (37.7)	10.38	0.002
	No	690 (72.2)	304 (62.3)
Depression	Yes	133 (14.9)	86 (19.2)	2.46	0.118
Self-rated health	No Bad	814 (85.1) 290 (32.4)	396 (80.8) 180 (37.3)	2.77	0.098
	Good	663 (67.6)	313 (62.7)
Perceived stress	More	195 (20.9)	101 (21.7)	0.08	0.775
	Less	751 (79.1)	379 (78.3)
Walking, min		74.89 (±3.45)	57.55 (±3.65)	2.64	0.106
Sleeping, h		6.44 (±0.06)	6.58 (±0.11)	0.01	0.912

^aCalculated by chi-square test/t-test.

Table 2.

Factors related to suicidal ideation in the young-old elderly (n=1,016)

Characteristics		Model 1^b			Model 2^c
Characteristics		OR	(95% CI)	P^a	OR	(95% CI)	P^a
Sociodemographic characteriistics
Sex	Male	0.83	(0.52-.1.32)	0.830	1.00	(0.50-2.00)	0.990
	Female	1			1
Education	≤Elementary Middle≤	2.29 1	(1.38-3.80)	0.001	2.23 1	(1.10-4.51)	0.025
Living condition	With family	0.90	(0.56-1.46)	0.678	1.26	(0.57-2.79)	0.565
	Alone	1			1
Place of residence	Rural	0.88	(0.58-1.32)	0.538	0.71	(0.38-1.34)	0.295
	Urban	1			1
Household income	1 quartile (lowest)	1.33	(0.83-2.12)	0.226	0.84	(0.47-1.53)	0.585
	2 quartile≤	1			1
Negelkerke R²			0.06
F (P)			4.46 (0.001)
Health characteristics
Chronic disease	Yes				0.71	(0.38-1.33)	0.294
	No				1
Restriction of activity	Yes No				1.35 1	(0.56-3.25)	0.501
Pain/discomfort	Yes				1.39	(0.76-2.54)	0.273
	No				1
Depression	Yes				14.15	(6.13-32.65)	<0.001
	No				1
Self-rated health	Poor Good				2.67 1	(1.52-4.69)	0.001
Perceived stress	More				2.31	(1.10-4.82)	0.026
	Less				1
Walking					1.00	(0.99-1.00)	0.828
Sleeping					1.08	(0.98-1.31)	0.400
Negelkerke R²						0.40
F (P)						8.17 (<0.001)

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.

^aAssessed by multiple logistic regression.

^bEntered variables in model 1 were sociodemographic characteristics.

^cEntered variables in model 2 were sociodemographic and health characteristics.

Table 3.

Factors related to suicidal ideation in the old-old elderly (n=579)

Characteristics		Model 1^b			Model 2^c
Characteristics		OR	(95% CI)	P^a	OR	(95% CI)	P^a
Sociodemographic characteristics
Sex	Male	0.77	(0.35-.1.70)	0.523	-	-	-
	Female	1
Education	≤Elementary	1.77	(0.77-4.05)	0.170	-	-	-
	Middle≤	1
Living condition	With family	0.78	(0.43-1.41)	0.416	-	-	-
	Alone	1
Place of residence	Rural	1.21	(0.68-2.17)	0.500	-	-	-
	Urban	1
Household income	1 quartile (lowest)	0.80	(0.44-1.45)	0.477	-	-	-
	2 quartile≤	1
Negelkerke R²			0.04
F (P)			1.37 (0.236)
Health characteristics
Chronic disease	Yes				1.32	(0.45-3.82)	0.602
	No				1
Restriction of activity	Yes				3.11	(1.28-7.53)	0.012
	No				1
Pain/discomfort	Yes				2.54	(1.15-5.63)	0.021
	No				1
Depression	Yes				2.49	(1.09-5.68)	0.030
	No				1
Self-rated health	Poor				1.52	(0.72-3.21)	0.269
	Good				1
Perceived stress	More				3.21	(1.28-8.01)	0.013
	Less				1
Walking					0.99	(0.99-1.00)	0.746
Sleeping					1.18	(0.95-1.48)	0.124
Negelkerke R²						0.31
F (P)						5.08 (<0.001)

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.

^aAssessed by multiple logistic regression.

^bEntered variables in model 1 were sociodemographic characteristics.

^cEntered variables in model 2 were health characteristics.

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