During that period, there were 74,675 suicides of elderly people. In 1993, suicide rates ranged from 15 per 100,000 population, among persons 65 to 69 years old, to 24 per 100,000 population for persons 80 to 85 years of age, a rate that is double the overall US rate. White males are at nearly 10 times the risk for suicide as nonwhite males across the age spectrum. 1 White men over 80 years old are at the greatest risk of all age, gender, and racial groups. The suicide rate for this group is six times the current overall rate and three times the rate of African-American males over 80 years old.
Older adults tend to use highly lethal means to commit suicide.
In 1988, nearly 8 out of 10 suicides committed by men 65 years and above were done so with a firearm. Hanging and poisoning were the second and third leading causes of suicide in this group. Often these suicides are not reported as such but are listed as accidental deaths. Many are committed by isolated, lonely, older people. Additionally, suicides are often mistaken for natural deaths, especially in cases of medicinal overdosing, because many older people take several medications.