Suicide attempts and ideation in African-American type 1 diabetic patients

In order to examine suicidality and its correlates in type 1 diabetics 412 African-American type 1 diabetics and 404 African-American controls underwent a semi-structured interview that asked if they had ever attempted suicide. Patients completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Diabetics and controls were compared for their rate of suicide attempt. Diabetic patients who had or had never attempted suicide were compared on socio-demographic and clinical data. It was found that diabetics were 3 to 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than controls (13.3% vs 3.5%, respectively, P<0.001). Diabetic attempters were significantly more likely to be female, depressed and hostile, and to report a history of childhood trauma, smoking, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse than diabetic non-attempters. Multivariate analyses showed that female sex, severity of childhood abuse, history of alcohol abuse, and depression were significantly and independently associated with having attempted suicide. These results suggest that African-Americans with type 1 diabetes have a raised risk of attempting suicide. Suicide risk in diabetics appears to be multifactorial and includes gender, developmental, personality, psychiatric, and substance abuse determinants.