Suicidality Assessment of the Elderly With Physical Illness in the Emergency Department

Taking into account and evaluating the presence of a physical illness plays a crucial role in the clinical encounter with the elderly who may present suicidal ideation (SI) and suicidal behavior (SB) (1, 2). On the one hand, physical illness is associated with greater suicidality risk in the elderly. This association has been inferred from both quantitative and qualitative findings based on population and registry cohorts (3–5), case-control studies (6–13), psychological autopsies (14, 15), coroners’ reports (16, 17), and suicide notes (17, 18) [for reviews, see (19, 20)]. This applies to SI/wishes to die (20–22) and the entire span of SB, including suicide attempts (SAs) and completed suicides [for reviews, see (20, 23, 24)].