Female youths who attempt suicide at increased risk for substance use disorders
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Female adolescents and teens who attempted suicide were at an increased risk for substance use disorders, researchers reported in JAMA Psychiatry.
Nathalie Auger, MD, MSc, a principal scientist at the at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, and colleagues assessed the association between suicide attempts in women and girls before the age of 20 years and the future risk of substance use disorders.
“We identified girls who attempted suicide between ages 8 and 19 years in Quebec and tracked them over time to see if they developed substance use disorders later in life,” Auger told Healio.
Female youths who attempted suicide were matched with youths who had not. The cohort was followed up for 31 years.
Among 122,234 youths included (mean age, 15.6 years), 5,840 (4.8%) had attempted suicide, and 4,341 (3.6%) developed a substance use disorder. Compared with the 116,394 youths who did not attempt suicide (95.2%), those who did attempt to take their own life were at a greater risk for hospitalization for a substance use disorder (HR 6.03; 95% CI, 5.39-6.77).
Moreover, female youths who attempted suicide were at an increased risk for hospitalizations for sedatives or hypnotic use disorders (HR, 32.24; 95% CI, 23.29-44.64). Although risk remained elevated for up to 3 decades for all substances, suicide attempt was associated with the development of sedative or hypnotic use disorder for up to 5 years (HR, 66.69; 95% CI, 34.72-128.09).
Compared with those who did not attempt suicide, those with three or more suicide attempts were at an increased risk for substance use disorder by over 20 times (HR, 21.20; 95% CI, 13.53-32.90). Women and girls with one attempt were at an increased risk of 5.70 (95% CI, 5.08-6.41).
“We found that, over a 31-year period, adolescents with suicide attempts were more likely to require later treatment for sedative, hypnotic, hallucinogen and alcohol use disorders,” Auger said. “Adolescent girls who attempt suicide may benefit from mental health support to prevent future substance misuse.”