Link between suicide, child sexual abuse may persist well into older adulthood.

2004 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- There's new evidence that the devastating effect of childhood sexual abuse may extend well into advanced age, according to a new study.

Findings indicate that a group of older depressed women who suffered abuse as children were more likely to consider taking their own life and had higher rates of multiple suicide attempts than those who did not.

"These findings suggest that the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and suicidal behavior extends beyond adolescence and younger adulthood into older adulthood," the authors said. "The maxim that 'time heals all wounds' may not apply to depressed older adult women who have childhood sexual abuse histories."

Researchers led by Nancy L. Talbot, PhD, at the University of Rochester, examined a group of 127 women who were 50 years or older and had been diagnosed as suffering from major depression. From this group, 18 women reported having experienced sexual abuse in their youth, which was defined as "unwanted sexual contact before age 18."

The findings were published in the September-October 2004 issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

The investigators found that 15 of the 18, or 83%, had attempted suicide in their lifetime, and that 12 of them, or 67%, had made multiple attempts. Among women with major depression who had not experienced childhood sexual abuse, suicidal behavior, while still a factor, was much lower: 58% reported at least one attempt in their lifetime and 27% reported multiple attempts.

The abused women were also much more likely to be contemplating or actually ...