Characteristics of Suicide Attempts Preceded by Alcohol Consumption
Archives of Suicide Research, Volume 12, Issue 1 January 2008 , pages 30 - 38


Acute alcohol ingestion and alcohol dependence are known to increase the risk of impulsive suicide attempt even in non-depressed patients. The relation between alcohol and suicide risk needs, however, to be clarified.

We assessed for this purpose prevalence of recent alcohol intake among suicide attempters and compared suicide attempts preceded ("Alcohol + ") or not by alcohol intake.

Alcohol abuse was more frequent among suicide attempters with prior alcohol ingestion (49% versus 12%,). Alcohol dependence was also more frequent in the "Alcohol + " group (43% versus 9%). Patients from the "Alcohol + " group drank more alcohol each day (6.1 versus 1.3 drinks) and more often during the week (3.6 days per week versus 1.4). They had a higher number of alcohol intoxications each week (0.9 versus 0.3). They drank more often alone (41% versus 12%, p < 0.005) and in the morning (21% versus 3%). They had higher scores on the Michigan Alcohol Screening test (14.8 versus 2.9). Prevalence of drug dependence was higher in the "Alcohol + " group (21% versus 3%, respectively).

Suicide attempts must be asked about their recent alcohol intake. This alcohol intake is often the symptom of an alcohol abuse or dependence disorder.

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