Suicídio em idosos: índice e taxa de mortalidade nas capitais brasileiras no período de 2001 a 2015

Background: Suicide in the elderly is one of the major public health problems, which has been expressing increasingly alarming rates worldwide today. Objective: Analyzing the suicide mortality rate and rate among the elderly in Brazilian capitals from 2001 to 2015. Methods: This is a mixed ecological study, with secondary data collected in the Sistema de Indicadores de Saude e Acompanhamento de Politicas Publicas do Idoso (SISAP IDOSO) and Sistema de informacao sobre Mortalidade (SIM). The collection was performed from September to November 2018. The data were tabulated and analyzed descriptively, with graphs, tables, and simple absolute and percentage frequencies. Main results: 74.9% who committed suicide were men, and 53.7% were between 60 and 69 years old. The southeastern region had the highest mortality rate, but the highest mortality rate for every 10,000 inhabitants was in the central-west region. Conclusion: there is a growing increase in the rates and mortality rates of the elderly, becoming a concern for public health.