ABSTRACT
Suicide is a leading cause of morbidity worldwide. Among the known risk factors, alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are particularly relevant, but data on the epidemiology and characteristics of suicide attempts (SA) in this group are lacking. We used electronic health records of national health services to identify individuals who received a diagnosis of AUD in the Metropolitan area of Bologna from 2009 to 2019. In this cohort we identified accesses to Emergency Departments for SA from 2009 to 2020. The Crude Suicide Rate (CSR) for 1,000 Person Years was 2.93, higher than the general population. The CSR was higher in females, within one year from receiving the diagnosis of AUD, in patients with psychiatric comorbidities, concomitant abuse of cannabis or benzodiazepines. As for Covid-19 pandemic, the risk ratio of SA was significantly higher in 2020 compared to 2019 in females. Our results are relevant to identify clinical risk factors for SA in patients with AUDs, which are strongly associated with suicide risk but with scarce data in the previous literature and paucity of evidence-based therapeutic interventions.
ABSTRACT
Suicide is a leading cause of morbidity worldwide. Among the known risk factors, substance use disorders are particularly relevant, but there are still few data on the epidemiology of suicide attempts in this group during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used electronic health records of the National Health Services to identify individuals who received a diagnosis of substance use disorder in the metropolitan area of Bologna from 2009 to 2019. Within this cohort, we identified those who accessed emergency departments for suicide attempt from 2009 to 2020. The crude suicide rate for 1000 person years was 2.54, higher than in the general population. The risk was higher within 1 year from the first visit in patients with any psychiatric diagnosis, mainly depression, neurotic and somatoform syndromes and personality and behavioural disorders. The risk was higher, but not significantly, in the year 2020 compared to the previous year. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)