Dr. Eric Caine, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York, said here this week that compassion motivates concern worldwide about suicide among teens and young adults, but far too little attention is being paid to the much graver statistical data of suicide among the elderly. Dr. Caine is leading efforts by the International Psychogeriatric Association, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, to initiate a global program to address this problem. A director of IPA, Dr. Caine is among 2,000 of the world's foremost authorities on mental health and aging, who have been meeting here since Sunday. People are living longer worldwide, with dramatic increases to life expectancy in developing countries, and in the rest of the world, the postwar baby boom is moving toward advanced age.
Suicide rates are highest among the elderly and the situation appears to be getting worse.
Depression is a primary factor in these deaths. Researchers have more questions than answers. Older men commit suicide four to six times the rate worldwide as do women, but there are anomalies. In Hong Kong, the rate is just 1.3 men versus women. This is the challenge IPA wishes to research and address around the world.