Tests find alcohol in many suicides

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

More than a third of those who committed suicide in 2004 tested positive for alcohol, according to a federal study.

The test results, taken from suicide victims in 13 states, also showed that 10 percent had opiates, cocaine, marijuana or amphetamines in their system, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in the report, which was released Thursday.

"These results underscore the need to continue monitoring toxicology test results of suicide victims, which might identify patterns of substance use that can help guide development of effective suicide interventions," wrote the authors, led by Debra Karch of the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention. The findings were published in the agency's Morbidity & Morbidity Weekly Report.

Data for the report were obtained from the National Violent Death Reporting System, a state-based surveillance program that collects information on all violent deaths in participating states.

Virginia and Maryland were among the states that provided data. The others were Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

In 2004, Virginia had 831 suicides, while Maryland reported 482. In Virginia, more than 97 percent of the suicide victims were tested for alcohol, which was a higher level than any other state in the national reporting system. The proportion tested for alcohol in Maryland was 76 percent, which was near the 13-state average of 74.4 percent.

While about three-quarters of suicide victims were tested for alcohol, fewer than half were tested for cocaine or opiates; fewer than 40 percent were tested for amphetamines; and fewer than 30 percent were tested for marijuana, according to the report.

"We've got a lot of variation among states in testing. Testing for marijuana tended to be very low," Ms. Karch said yesterday.

The report found that among all suicide victims with positive test results, the greatest percentage tested positive for alcohol (33.3 percent), followed by opiates (16.4 percent), cocaine (9.4 percent), marijuana (7.7 percent) and amphetamines (3.9 percent).

In Virginia, 31 percent of those tested were positive for alcohol; in Maryland, it was 38 percent. But use of other drugs was higher among those who committed suicide in Virginia than it was Maryland. In Virginia, 26 percent of those tested were positive for opiates; in Maryland, it was fewer than 10 percent.

The authors acknowledged one limitation of the study was that "alcohol or other drugs in the bodies of victims were only recorded as present or absent; no evaluations were conducted to determine whether the concentrations present were lethal or intoxicating."