There are several neurobiological and psychological theories proposed to explain the relationship between alcohol use and suicide. Alcohol affects neurotransmitters, which are the chemical messengers such as GABA and serotonin that help regulate mood. We reported descriptive statistics, and presented associations between covariates and the primary exposures explored with chi-squared and t-tests, as appropriate. For main analyses, we conducted univariable analyses followed by multivariable analyses to adjust for the effects of ten specific potential confounders. Reaching out for assistance and seeking appropriate treatment for alcohol misuse is one of the best ways to obtain support, overcome the addiction to alcohol, and prevent suicide.

Data Availability Statement

The results of our research highlight just how needed these measures are in our society, but prevention requires change at both the individual and systemic level. There is a clear need to conduct randomized trials of interventions for those with AUDs who are experiencing suicidal ideation. Indeed, it would be a coup to prioritize the inclusion of AUD patients with suicidal ideation, insofar as suicidal thoughts and behavior has so often served as exclusion criteria in clinical trials research. Although it is logical to pursue foundational studies at this early stage of research, there is also an urgency to explore what may work in preventing suicidal behavior based on current knowledge. For example, the current zeitgeist in emergency settings is to wait until intoxicated suicidal individuals “sober up” and reassess them for safety, with most being sent home with an outpatient appointment.

Association between AUDIT score risk categories and suicidal behaviour

Future research directions include the study of real-time interventions via mobile applications, which could potentially coach individuals on adaptive strategies for suicidal thoughts, urges to drink, or distressing experiences. Another future direction is to accelerate research on pharmacological interventions that target individuals at risk for alcohol-related suicidal behavior. However, alcoholism and alcohol misuse can significantly increase one’s risk of death by aa types of meetings suicide.

Alcohol consumption has health and social consequences via intoxication (drunkenness), dependence (habitual, compulsive and long-term drinking), and biochemical effects. In addition to chronic diseases that may affect drinkers after many years of heavy use, alcohol contributes to traumatic outcomes that kill or disable at a relatively young age, resulting in the loss of many years of life to death or disability. There is increasing evidence that, aside from the volume of alcohol consumed, the pattern of the drinking is relevant for health outcomes. Overall, there is a causal relationship between alcohol consumption and more than 60 types of diseases and injuries. Alcohol is estimated to cause about 20–30% of cases of oesophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, homicide, epilepsy and motor vehicle accidents. Alcohol had been used by most people in the Americas, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand, with smaller proportions in the Middle East, Africa, and China 4.

Study Population

First, population-attributable fractions were calculated based on data including only persons who currently drank alcohol. Because some persons who formerly drank alcohol might also die from alcohol-related causes, population-attributable fractions might underestimate alcohol-attributable deaths. Increases in deaths from excessive alcohol use during the study period occurred among all age groups. A recent study found that one in eight total deaths among U.S. adults aged 20–64 years during 2015–2019 resulted from excessive alcohol use (9). Because of the increases in these deaths during 2020–2021, including among adults in the same age group, excessive alcohol use could account for an even higher proportion of total deaths during that 2-year period. In this study, fewer than one third of deaths from excessive alcohol use were from fully alcohol-attributable causes, highlighting the importance of also assessing partially alcohol-attributable causes to better understand the harms from excessive drinking, including binge drinking.

The most common SUDs in this cohort were alcohol, opioid, and sedative/hypnotic use disorders. Opioid and sedative/hypnotic use disorders also had the strongest associations with suicide mortality, which affected both men and women. Globally, opioid use disorder has the highest health burden among all DUDs because of its high worldwide prevalence and premature mortality (Degenhardt et al., 2013). Our findings underscore the importance of organizing health care delivery to identify patients with these common disorders and to facilitate screening for psychiatric comorbidity and suicidality (Crump et al., 2020; Crump et al., 2021).

Our study indicates these combine to produce a 282 per cent increased risk of death by suicide. This association was attenuated when sociodemographic and clinical covariates were added to the model, but strong evidence of an association remained (adjusted odds ratio 1.06, 95% CI 1.03–1.09). Similarly, there was evidence of a relationship between AUDIT score and suicidal thoughts in both the unadjusted (odds ratio 1.07, 95% CI 1.06–1.10) and fully adjusted model (adjusted odds ratio 1.05, 95% CI 1.03–1.07). Whether you’re seeking treatment for yourself or you’re concerned about a loved one, know that there are many ways to help prevent suicide and stop alcohol misuse.

The guidelines also recommend incorporating promising, but underused, strategies into current programs where possible, expanding suicide prevention efforts for adolescents and young adults, introducing screening programs, and evaluating the prevention programs. Although groups at risk can be identified, the prediction of suicide in individuals is difficult because individual risk factors account for only a small proportion of the variance in risk and lack sufficient specificity, resulting in high rates of false positives 227. The management of people at risk of suicide is challenging because of the many causes and limited evidence base.

1. There is increasing evidence that, aside from the volume of alcohol consumed, the pattern of the drinking is relevant for health outcomes.
2. In fact, we found that alcohol use increased the risk of death by suicide by a frightening 94 per cent.
3. His time-series analysis suggests a positive relationship between the level of vodka sales per capita and suicide rates with no time lag and at first degree lags.
4. This means that alcohol-related suicide is mainly a male phenomenon, as was shown in previous studies 96,97.
5. The estimated global burden of suicide is a million deaths every year 1, and a policy statement produced by WHO in response to this 2 has urged countries to implement suicide prevention policies.

Subsets of the set are risk-taking thoughts and behaviors and suicide-related thoughts and behaviors. The former is subdivided into immediate or remote risk for life and further subclassified, as all other subsets of the classification, according to the outcome, that is, non injury, injury (no matter how severe) and death. The latter subset is further subclassified into suicide-related ideation, suicide-related communications, and suicide-related behaviors. Ideation is further subclassified according to intent, that is, absent, undetermined or present (independent of its degree), and may be casual, transient, passive, active, or persistent. The researchers found that during the study period, the proportion of suicides involving a BAC greater than or equal to 0.08 g/dL significantly increased each year for women of all age groups. In contrast, only middle-aged men had a significant yearly increase in alcohol-involved suicides.

Such event-based analysis of drinking and suicidal thoughts and behavior would inform theory and prevention efforts targeting alcohol-involved acts of suicide. Because suicide is a complex problem, no single approach is likely to contribute to a significant, substantial decline in suicide rates. Clinical studies of suicide prevention are hindered by methodological and ethical problems, especially since many people at risk do not have contact with clinical services. Knowledge about who is at risk of suicide is crucial, and a number of interventions show promising effects.

In later life in both sexes, major depression is the most common diagnosis both in those who attempt suicide and those who complete suicide. In contrast to other age groups, comorbidity with substance abuse and personality disorders is less frequent 207. Cognitive rigidity and obsessional traits seem to influence the risk of suicide in the elderly 213,214, probably because these traits undermine the ability of the elderly to cope with the challenges of ageing, which often calls for substantial adaptations. Physical illness 215, bereavement and loss of independence 216 are also important factors. In many cases, the physical illness itself, and medications adopted to treat it, may cause depressive symptoms.