• Liat Ayalon.
• Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. ayalonl@mail.biu.ac.il
• Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2011 Sep 1;26(9):923-9.

ObjectivesThis study evaluated regional variations (South, Centre, and North of Europe) in passive death wishes (wish to die) and predictors of passive death wishes, using a cross-national longitudinal design.MethodsThe Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is a cross national European survey of individuals over the age of 50 and their spouse of any age. This study relied on wave 1 and 2 of SHARE. Passive death wishes were evaluated using an item from the Euro-D. A variety of clinical and sociodemographic variables were evaluated as potential predictors.ResultsThe rate of passive death wishes was significantly lower in Northern Europe (4.6%) than in Southern (8.5%) and Central Europe (7.0%). Older adults, females, those reporting more depressive symptoms, more medical conditions, and lower levels of hope in wave 1 were more likely to report passive death wishes in wave 2, unrelated to geographic region. In contrast, passive death wishes reported in wave 1 were a stronger risk for passive death wishes in wave 2 for Northern Europeans than for Southern Europeans.ConclusionsDespite notable geographic differences in the prevalence rate of passive death wishes, most predictors evaluated in the present study function similarly across the three European regions.Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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