Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.08.2003, Page 73

POSTERS / 27TH NORDIC PSYCHIATRIC CONGRESS I
suicide behaviour. Some genetic factors in suicide should be related
to impulsivity and aggressiveness, which have their effects indepen-
dently of, or additively to, a mental disorder.
Tlie proposal that there is a genetic aetiological component to
suicidal behaviour does not mean that environmental factors are
not also important. If anything, it would make it even more neces-
sary to control these risk factors in populations of high genetic risk.
Unless both risk factors are taken into account simultaneously, it is
unlikely that any suicide reduction intervention will be effective.
P - 48 Friday 15/8,14:00-15:00
Transferred to an oral presentation
P - 49 Friday 15/8, 14:00-15:00
Suicidal behaviour in northern lceland
Brynjúlfur Ingvarsson, Psychialrist, FSA University Hospital, 600 Akureyri
brynjolf@fsa. is
Background: Clinicians al the Akureyri Regional Hospital in Nor-
thern Iceland (FSA University Hospital, Akureyri) have noted an
increase in suicidal attempts in the region over the last decade.
Aims: To try to get a clear picture of the development of deliberate
self-harm in the community during the years 1985-2002 incl. as
confirmed in the emergency and intensive care units to plan service
needs for the next years if this increase is confirmed and continuing.
Method: Having got the necessary permissions, the Hospital Data
Base was asked to deliver all information about registered suicide
attempts, self-inflicted injury, and parasuicides according to 1CD-9
(1985-1996) and ICD-10 (1997-2002).
Results: There was a more or less annual rise of the total number all
the time from 11 (1985) to 66 (2002) in spite of a stable population
denominator. Women outnumbered men all the last decade with-
out exceptions. Tlie most frequently used method of self-harm was
intoxication with prescriplion drugs. The most frequently used
pharmacological categories were analgetics and psychotropic drugs,
X60, X61 and X62 in ICD-10.
Conclusions: Our findings correspond with research in other Nor-
dic countries. The primary aim of this research is to get a clear pic-
ture of the development of deliberate self-harm in the community
last 18 years is in sight, but the secondary aim, to highlight the most
important expected changes in the future remains further away.
P - 50 Friday 15/8,14:00-15:00
Transferred to an oral presentation
P - 51 Friday 15/8, 14:00-15:00
Suicidal feelings in a population sample of non-demented
70- and 74-year old women in Gothenburg. The Women’s
Health Study
Sigurður Púll Pálsson, Psychiatrist, Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry
Section, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg Un, Department of Psychiatry,
Sahlgrenska Hospital, S41345 Göteborg, Sweden. Margda Waern, Lena Larsson,
Elisabet Tengelin, Sverker Samuelsson , Tore Hallström, Ingmar Skoog.
siggipp@centrum.is; sigpp@landspitali.is
Aini: To study the one-month frequency of suicidal feelings in 70-
and 74-year-old women and lifetime self-reported suicidal feelings.
Method: A representative sample of 70- and 74-year-old women
(N=483) was examined in 1992. Suicidal feelings were rated accor-
ding to Paykel and the CPRS. Lifetime suicidality was calculated
using information from previous examinations (1981, 1974, and
1968).
Rcsults: The one-month prevalence of any suicidal feeling accor-
ding to the CPRS (life weariness, death wishes, and suicidality) was
9.3%. Any suicidal feeling, according to Paykel, during the last
month was reported by 5.6%. Among mentally healthy women
(n=370), the one-month frequency of thoughts that life was not
worth living was 1.7%, of death wishes 0.8% and of thoughts of
taking life 0.5%. Among subjects with mental disorders (n=113)
15.9% had thoughts that life was not worth living, 4.4% had death
wishes, and 1.8% had thoughts of taking life.
Longitudinal analysis: Self-reported total (lifetime) prevalence of
any suicidal feeling or behaviour according lo the investigations in
1968, 1974, 1981, and 1992 was 34.6 % CI 95 (30.3-39.0). Lifelime
prevalence of suicidal thoughts was 14.1 % CI 95 (11.1-17.5). Life-
time prevalence of suicide attempts was 3.3 % CI 95 (1.9-5.3).
Conclusions: Mild suicidal feelings are common in 70- and 74-year-
old women with mental disorders but infrequent in the mentally
healthy. However, in a lifetime perspective any suicidal tendencies
are highly prevalent.
P - 52 Friday 15/8, 14:00-15:00
Anosognosia for memory impairment in Alzheimer’s
disease and caregiver burden
Kristín Hannesdóttir, PhD, Student, Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s
College, University of London, Kjarrvegi 2,108 Reykjavík, Iceland. Morris RG.
Babinski was the first to describe and give the term of anosognosia to
the phenomenon of not being aware of the presence of a neurological
impairment. Anosognosia (unawareness) can form an obstacle for
rehabilitation, whereas patients may refuse to participate in ‘any
remedial interventions’. It may also result in poor interaction
between patient and caregiver, thus perhaps increasing caregiver
burden. Ninety-two Icelandic AD patients are compared with 92
normal controls for this study. Furthermore, 92 informants (care-
givers) for the AD patients and 92 informants for the controls take
part in this study. Caregiver burden is assessed using two scales, the
Greene Scale and the General Health Questionnaire. Three quanti-
tative measures are used to investigate anosognosia: 1) experimenter
rating, 2) objective judgement discrepancy between actual and esti-
mated performances, and 3) subjective-rating discrepancy between
subject and informant judgements. Caregiver burden is compared
between AD caregivers and informants of controls as well as within
AD subgroups. Caregiver burden is then correlated with neuro-
psychological functioning of patients as well as level of insight. Here
it is hypothesised that the caregiver burden will correlate with
LÆKNABLAÐIÐ / FYLGIRIT 48 2003/89 73