http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/elderlydepsuicide.cfm
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
Major depression, a significant predictor of suicide in older adults, is a widely underrecognized and undertreated medical illness. In fact, several studies have found that many older adults who commit suicide have visited a primary care physician very close to the time of the suicide: 20 percent on the same day, 40 percent within one week, and 70 percent within one month of the suicide. These findings point to the urgency of enhancing both the detection and the adequate treatment of depression as a means of reducing the risk of suicide among the elderly.