Objective: This study was carried out to analyze the suicide rate in our Parkinson disease (PD)  population and review the clinical profiles of patients who had committed suicide.

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) not only affects patient’s movement and mobility, but also the psycho-social aspects of their lives.  Limited studies have been conducted to evaluate suicide in patients with PD . This study was carried out to analyze the suicide rate in our PD population and review the clinical profiles of patients who had committed suicide.

Methods: Data from this study were obtained from the Movement Disorders Database of National Neuroscience Institute which captured the demographic information and prospectively collected disease characteristics.  All study patients were linked to the Singapore National Registry of Disease Office to obtain data on death information from1 January 2002 to December 31, 2012.  The cause of death for suicide was confirmed by Coroner’s court certificate. Descriptive statistics were used to describe data.

Results: Within the study period, 2012 PD patients were identified in the database, 366 (18.2%) had died during the 11-year study period.  Of these, 11 (0.5%) patients had committed suicide.  10 patients’ profiles were reviewed; one patient was excluded because no data was available on PD treatment in the database and clinic notes.  Among the 10 patients, 7 were male while 3 were female. All 10 patients were Chinese.  8 out of 10 were married. Patients’ clinical profiles are summarized in Table1 and Chart 1

Conclusions: Although the suicide rate in PD population was low, every suicide is a potentially preventable tragedy.  Understanding the profile of PD patients who had committed suicide will enable clinicians to identify at-risk patients and multi disciplinary approach will be adopted accordingly in patient management.

« Back to 2017 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/suicide-in-parkinson-disease/