Background: It has been established that depressed patients manifest a
higher risk of committing suicide. The role of delusional experiences
accompanying depressive symptomatology as a risk factor for suicidal
behaviour has been investigated but the results are inconsistent.
Method: In the present study, 40 elderly depressed inpatients with
psychotic features (DSM-IV criteria) were compared to 64 elderly
depressed patients without such features in terms of suicide attempts.
Results: The results of univariate and multivariate analyses were
negative: Psychotic and nonpsychotic depressed patients did not differ
with respect to attempted suicide. Conclusion: The results of the
present study support the notion that psychotic features do not increase
the risk for the elderly depressed patients to attempt suicide. (C) 2002
Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
