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 To explore the connection between suicide risk and misuse of
prescription opiates and sedatives, researchers surveyed about 3,300
Chinese teens once when they were about 14 years old and again a
year later.
Teens who said they used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons
at the start of the study were almost three times as likely to
report a suicide attempt a year later, and the risk was more than
tripled for youth who abused opiates, researchers report in JAMA
Pediatrics.
“Baseline opioids misuse, sedatives misuse, and nonmedical use of .
. . prescription drugs were positively associated with later
suicidal ideation,” said lead study author Dr. Lan Guo of Sun
Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.
Those thoughts were more likely to turn into suicide attempts with
“baseline opioids misuse and nonmedical use of any prescription
drugs,” Guo added by email.
Less than 3 percent of the teens reported misuse of any prescription
drugs, with 1.8 percent saying they used opiates or stimulants for
nonmedical reasons and about 1 percent reporting abuse of sedatives.
Overall, 17 percent of the participants reported suicidal thoughts,
and 3 percent reported suicide attempts in the survey at the end of
the study.
The link between drug abuse and suicide persisted even after
researchers accounted for teens who reported experiencing depression
at the start of the study.
While the study doesn’t examine why abuse of prescriptions and other
drugs might be linked to a greater suicide risk, it’s possible that
these drugs might alter teens’ moods or lower inhibitions in a way
that allows suicidal impulses to flourish, the authors conclude.
Limitations of the study include its reliance on teens to accurately
report and recall both drug use and suicidal thoughts or suicide
attempts, the authors note.
It’s not surprising, however, that the same teens who are prone to
abusing drugs would also be susceptible to suicidal thoughts, said
Dr. Bernard Biermann, an adolescent psychiatry researcher at the
University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor.
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“Substance abuse can be associated with causing depression and
distress, but it’s also a means of self-medicating,” Biermann, who
wasn’t involved in the study, said in a phone interview.
It’s essential that parents keep an eye on teens for changes in
behavior that go beyond temporary moodiness to suggest a bigger
problem, said Dr. Benjamin Shain, a researcher at the University of
Chicago and head of child and adolescent psychiatry at NorthShore
University HealthSystem.
“Growing up has always been difficult and life now is even more
complicated,” Shain, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by
email. “Parents should take seriously severe or persistent distress
and changes in behavior, such as isolation or falling grades, and
bring their teen to their primary care physician or a mental health
professional with any signs.”
Parents should also try to make it harder for teens to get their
hands on things to harm themselves, said Dr. Yolanda Evans, an
adolescent medicine specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital who
wasn’t involved in the study.
“When possible, avoid having things readily available that teens may
impulsively use to end their life,” Evans said by email. “Old
narcotics or medications should be discarded (look for pharmacy take
back options).”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2bbVzg6 JAMA Pediatrics, online August 15,
2016
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