How an individual is informed of the traumatic loss of a loved one can influence the grieving process and quality of life for survivors. Objective: this qualitative survey aimed to explore how age influences the experience and feelings of those who have received communication of this type of death from a professional figure.

30 people recruited through the use of social networks and word of mouth participated in the study. The participants were divided into three groups according to the age variable (1 group: 10 participants up to 35 years old; 2 group: 10 participants aged between 45 and 55 years; 3 group: 10 participants aged 60 and over) who have received notification of the death of a loved one from police officers or health care professionals. The data was collected through an ad hoc questionnaire, completed online. The thematic analysis technique used Atlas.ti software 8.

the following four key themes were identified: (a) how the communication took place; (b) reactions; (c) support; and (d) coping strategies.

it is possible that advanced age confers greater resilience and coping strategies through life experiences to mitigate the stressful impact of communicating an unexpected and violent death.

Deaths from suicide often incur a misclassification. Suicide is in fact subject to stigma and shame; in some countries it is even criminalized. Furthermore, there are situations in which the intentionality of the suicidal behavior is really equivocal or there was a desire to disguise the death by suicide, for example for insurance reasons. In many cases, it can be difficult to ascertain if death was due to a deliberate act (such as not taking life-saving medication or overdosing on them; an accident or a voluntary fall, etc.). Suicide deaths involving older adults are particularly prone to under-reporting. The advanced age of the deceased may imply less investigative interest than a death in childhood or from medical complications. In addition, there are cases in which it is really difficult to classify the type of death. The following story may underline such a difficulty.

Angela was 81 years old. A childless widow, sufficiently independent, was a guest in a nursing home for about a year; she was there - she said - mainly to fight her loneliness. However, in the nursing home she felt even lonelier than at home.

Her house was sold shortly before entering her residence. She felt very frightened by the pandemic, which she followed for long hours on television: she had begun to say aloud that she didn't want to be intubated, and that there was no more oxygen for anyone anyway. Everybody would have died soon. She was given sedatives to calm her down, but in one occasion a nurse saw her holding the pills in her mouth and then spitting them down the toilet. Her roommate got sick and was taken away. Angela kept asking about her, receiving no answer. She was noticed having difficulties falling asleep and although she showed no signs of infection or disease, she was heard saying that her days were over. One day, she told the nurse that she had finally figured out what to do. A few days later, she was found dead during lunchtime, apparently suffocating on a piece of turkey.

Informed consent practices in healthcare are a fundamental element of patient-centred care; however, the traditional written description of the medical procedure for obtaining informed consent seems to have several limitations. Aim: This research aimed to evaluate the effects of an alternative method of obtaining informed consent, based on a short informative video for patients waiting to undergo a coronary angiography procedure in Italy.

The study involved 40 participants, 28 males and 12 females (mean age: 68.55, SD = 13.03), equally divided into two groups, one that received video informed consent and the other the traditional written one. Each group was asked to fill out two questionnaires, one created ad hoc by the authors to measure the level of understanding of the information provided and the perception of usefulness of informed consent, and the other the DASS-21 scale, able to assess anxiety, depression and stress levels.

Comparing the results of the two groups showed that informed consent via video enabled participants to better understand the information provided, as well as feel more confident in their subjective understanding of it, while perceiving informed consent via video as more useful than the traditional one. Video informed consent did not lead to higher levels of anxiety, depression, or stress among participants.

it can be hypothesized that video formats could represent a more useful and understandable alternative to traditional informed consent in the coronary angiography procedure sector.

Previous studies analysing blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of suicide have primarily focused on sociodemographic factors. Limited research has focused on psychosocial factors and co-ingestion of other substances to understand the mechanisms of how alcohol contributes to death by suicide. The aim was to examine time trends, psychosocial factors related to acute alcohol use and co-ingestion of alcohol and other substances before suicide.

The Queensland Suicide Register in 2004–2015 was utilised and analysed in 2019. The cut-off point for positive BAC was set at ⩾0.05 g/dl. Substances were categorised as medicines, illegal drugs and other. Medicines were coded by the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. Joinpoint regression, univariate odds ratios, age and sex-adjusted odds ratios and Forward Stepwise logistic regression were performed.

BAC information was available for 6744 suicides, 92% of all cases in 2004–2015. The final model showed that independent factors distinguishing BAC+ from BAC− were: age group 25–44 years, Australian Indigenous background, being separated or divorced, hanging, diagnosis of substance use, lifetime suicidal ideation, relationship and interpersonal conflict, not having psychotic and other psychiatric disorder, and no nervous system drugs or any other substances in blood at the time of suicide.

Our findings suggest that people who die by suicide while under the influence of alcohol are more likely to be under acute stress (e.g. separation) and not have earlier psychiatric conditions, except substance use. This highlights the importance of more strict alcohol policies, but also the need to improve substance use treatment.

In the limited research into suicides in older adults, they have been treated as a homogenous group without distinguishing between different age groups. This study aimed to compare differences in sociodemographic variables, recent life events, and mental and physical illnesses between three age groups within older adults who died by suicide: young-old (65–74 years), middle-old (75–84 years), and oldest old (85 years and over) in Queensland, Australia, during the years 2000–2012 (N = 978).

The Queensland Suicide Register was utilized for the analysis. Annual suicide rates were calculated. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and χ2 tests for trend were calculated to examine differences between the three groups.

Suicide rates were increasing with age for males, but not for females. Hanging and firearms were the predominant methods of suicides. However, suffocation by plastic bag and drowning as suicide methods increased with age, in contrast firearms and explosives decreased with age. Overall, psychiatric problems, suicidal behavior, legal and financial stressors, and relationship problems decreased significantly with age, meanwhile physical conditions and bereavement increased with age.

Suicide across older adulthood is not a homogenous phenomenon. Our findings showed significant differences in the prevalence of potential risk factors within the three different age groups considered. To prevent suicide in older adults would require targeting specific factors for each subgroup while using holistic and comprehensive approaches.

Globally, suicide rates increase with age, being highest in older adults. This study analyzed differences in suicides in older adults (65 years and over) compared to middle-aged adults (35–64 years) in Queensland, Australia, during the years 2000–2012.

The Queensland Suicide Register was utilized for the analysis. Annual suicide rates were calculated by gender and age group, and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were examined.

In Queensland, the average annual rate of suicides for older adults was 15.27 per 100,000 persons compared to 18.77 in middle-aged adults in 2000–2012. There were no significant changes in time trends for older adults in 2002–2012. Suicide methods differed between gender and age groups. Older adults who died by suicide were more likely to be male, widowed, living alone or in a nursing home, and out of the work force. The prevalence of untreated psychiatric conditions, diagnosed psychiatric disorders, and consultations with a mental health professional three months prior to death was lower in older adults than middle-aged adults. Somatic illness, bereavement, and attention to suicide in the media were more common among older adults than middle-age adults. Older females were particularly more likely to pay attention to suicide in the media.

Our findings show older adults who died by suicide were more likely to experience somatic illnesses, bereavement, and pay attention to suicide in the media compared to middle aged. Preventing suicide in older adults would therefore require holistic and comprehensive approaches.

Limited research is focused on suicides in children aged below 15 years.

To analyse worldwide suicide rates in children aged 10–14 years in two decades: 1990–1999 and 2000–2009.

Suicide data for 81 countries or territories were retrieved from the World Health Organization Mortality Database, and population data from the World Bank data-set.

In the past two decades the suicide rate per 100 000 in boys aged 10–14 years in 81 countries has shown a minor decline (from 1.61 to 1.52) whereas in girls it has shown a slight increase (from 0.85 to 0.94). Although the average rate has not changed significantly, rates have decreased in Europe and increased in South America. The suicide rates remain critical for boys in some former USSR republics.

The changes may be related to economic recession and its impact on children from diverse cultural backgrounds, but may also be due to improvements in mortality registration in South America.