Study findings 'emphasize the relationship' between substance use and teen suicide

Key takeaways:

• There was a significantly higher proportion of suicide attempts among adolescents who reported alcohol and tobacco use.
• It is crucial for primary care physicians to ask their adolescent patients about these topics.

Alcohol and tobacco use were both notably associated with suicide attempts among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results of research presented at this year’s Osteopathic Medical Education Conference, or OMED.

Data from the CDC’s Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey showed that 37.1% of high school students had poor mental health and 9.3% attempted suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic, Caleb Clemons, an osteopathic medical student at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM), told Healio.

“Most health professionals were concerned about the consequences that this time period might have on the mental health of young people given the social isolation and uncertainty that it brought,” Clemons said. “Certainly, I believe any time that you have an outcome with potentially massive health consequences, like suicide, it is important to identify behaviors that are associated with that outcome to potentially identify at-risk individuals.”

Clemons and Theresa J. McCann, PhD, MPH, retired discipline chair for epidemiology, community and public health, and preventive medicine at VCOM, conducted a cross-sectional study with data from the CDC survey to learn if tobacco and alcohol use were linked to adolescent suicide attempts during the pandemic. Even during the pandemic, the prevalence of alcohol use, tobacco use and attempted suicide did not exceed 20% in the study, the researchers reported.

Ultimately, Clemons said, the data indicated that, compared with those who did not report using substances, there was a significantly higher proportion of suicide attempts in the groups who reported use of alcohol, cigarettes, electronic vaping products and smokeless tobacco. These differences, he said, “could not be attributed to chance alone.”

Clemons said the findings build on previous studies showing associations between tobacco and alcohol use and suicidal activity among adolescents “outside of the time period of the COVID-19 pandemic,” but emphasized that the findings did not “imply that alcohol or tobacco use in adolescents causes suicide attempt.”

“I believe that our results, and the past work of others, demonstrate that it is extremely important for primary care physicians to ask their adolescent patients about the topics of alcohol use, tobacco use and suicidal thoughts or attempts,” Clemons said. “While our results do not suggest that tobacco and alcohol cause adolescents to attempt suicide, they emphasize the relationship between them in some youth. This may provide knowledge that will allow physicians to identify adolescent patients who are at risk for suicidal activity.”