Substance Use Disorder and Suicide Attempt Among People Who Report Compromised Health

Substance use disorder can increase the risk of suicide attempt. However, the relationship between substance use disorder and suicide attempt has yet to be explored among people who report compromised health, even though sick people are more likely to make an attempt.

Among people who report fair or poor health on the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (2006-2014; N = 502,467), I examined whether people with commonly occurring substance use disorders are more likely to attempt suicide than people without substance use disorders.

Logistic regression was used to predict suicide attempt from presence versus absence of substance use disorder.

Among individuals reporting compromised health, those who had DSM-IV alcohol use disorders were 2.72 times (CI = 1.81-4.09, p <.001) as likely as people without SUD to attempt suicide, and people with prescription painkiller use disorders were 2.25 times (CI = 1.04-4.90, p <.05) as likely. Individuals with both alcohol and marijuana use disorders were 2.38 times (CI = 1.25-4.54, p <.01) as likely as people without substance use disorder to make an attempt, and people with both alcohol and cocaine use disorders were 3.15 times (CI = 1.16-8.60, p <.05) as likely. Conclusions/Importance: In order to help prevent suicide attempt among people who report compromised health, treatment programs that specialize in health, mental health, or substance abuse could address the drug-specific disorders that are most highly associated with the likelihood of suicide attempt. More research is needed that may underscore risk associated with other drug-specific disorders, or that substantiate the findings reported herein.