WASHINGTON: Poor sleep quality in older adults, independent of a depressed mood, may increase their risk for suicide, new research has warned. Researchers said suicide is a preventable public health problem and accounts for almost 1 million deaths annually worldwide. Late life is characterised by an increased prevalence of sleep complaints and disproportionately elevated rates of suicide.

The study sample included 420 individuals (400 control patients and 20 patients who died from suicide) who were selected from 14,456 participants. Rebecca A Bernert from the Stanford University School of Medicine, California, and colleagues examined the risk for suicide associated with poor reported sleep in a group of older adults (with an average age of nearly 75 years) during a 10-year observation period.

Those individuals who reported poorer sleep quality at baseline had a 1.4 times increased risk for suicide. When authors controlled for the effects of a depressedmood, people with poorer sleep at baseline still demonstrated a 1.2 times greater risk for suicide during the 10-year observation period. Two sleep factors in particular - difficulty falling asleep and nonrestorative sleep - were associated with increased suicide risk.

"We suggest that poor subjective sleep quality may therefore represent a useful screening tool and a novel therapeutic target for suicide prevention in late life," said researchers.

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