Psychological disorders and suicide attempts in youths during the pre-COVID and post-COVID era in a Taiwan pediatric emergency department

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on pediatric patients, increasing their vulnerability to psychological fragility. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology and clinical spectrum of pediatric psychological fragility and suicide attempts in the emergency department (ED) before and after the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: A total of 340 […]

Overdose: Heartbreak and hope in Canada’s opioid crisis

In this urgent and humane look at a devastating epidemic, Perrin draws on behind-the-scenes interviews with those on the frontlines, including undercover police officers, intelligence analysts, border agents, prosecutors, healthcare professionals, Indigenous organizations, activists, and people who use drugs. Not only does he unveil the many complexities of this situation, but he also offers a […]

High suicidality predicts overdose events among people with substance use disorder: A latent class analysis

Introduction: Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and continues to be a major public health concern. Suicide risk is highly prevalent among individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders (SUD) and mental health disorders, making them more prone to adverse substance use related outcomes including overdose. Identifying individuals with SUD who […]

Assessment of the sociodemographic profile, pattern, and outcomes of intentional poisoning cases in an emergency department of a tertiary care teaching hospital: A prospective study

Background: Intentional self-poisoning has become a major health problem in low- and middle-income countries. Aims: We aimed to assess the sociodemographic profile, pattern, and outcomes of intentional poisoning cases in the emergency department of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Method: A prospective observational study was conducted at the department of emergency medicine of a South Indian tertiary care hospital for […]

Emergency department visits involving mental health conditions, suicide-related behaviors, and drug overdoses among adolescents: United States, January 2019-February 2023

What is already known about this topic? High baseline rates of poor adolescent mental and behavioral health were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. What is added by this report? By fall 2022, weekly ED visits among adolescents, and females in particular, for mental health conditions overall, suicide-related behaviors, and drug overdoses decreased compared with those […]

Escalating costs of self-injury mortality in the 21st century United States: An interstate observational study

Background Estimating the economic costs of self-injury mortality (SIM) can inform health planning and clinical and public health interventions, serve as a basis for their evaluation, and provide the foundation for broadly disseminating evidence-based policies and practices. SIM is operationalized as a composite of all registered suicides at any age, and 80% of drug overdose […]

Geography, rurality, and community distress: deaths due to suicide, alcohol‑use, and drug‑use among Colorado Veterans

Background: In the USA, deaths due to suicide, alcohol, or drug-related causes (e.g., alcohol-related liver disease, overdose) have doubled since 2002. Veterans appear disproportionately impacted by growing trends. Limited research has been conducted regarding the relationship between community-level factors (e.g., rurality, community distress resulting from economic conditions) and the presence of spatial clustering of suicide, alcohol-related, […]

Posttraumatic stress disorder, suicide, and unintended overdose death in later life: A national cohort study of veterans aged 50 and older

Background/objectives: Although studies have shown posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with risk of suicide, the relationship in later life, especially for overdose death, remains unclear. Thus, the aim of the current study was to determine associations between PTSD, suicide, and unintended overdose death in mid- to late-life. Methods: A nationwide cohort study integrating Department of Veterans Affairs’ […]

Differences in overdose deaths by intent: Unintentional & suicide drug poisonings in North Carolina, 2015–2019

Comprehensive fatal overdose prevention requires an understanding of the fundamental causes and context surrounding drug overdose. Using a social determinants of health (SDOH) framework, this descriptive study examined unintentional and self-inflicted (i.e., suicide) overdose deaths in North Carolina (NC), focusing on specific drug involvement and contextual factors. Unintentional and suicide overdose deaths were identified using […]

Discovering the unclassified suicide cases among undetermined drug overdose deaths using machine learning techniques

Objective The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) monitor accidental and intentional deaths to answer questions that are critical for the development of effective prevention and resource allocation. CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is a major innovation in surveillance linking individual-level data from multiple sources. However, suicide underreporting is common, particularly from […]

Comparing attitudes toward stigmatized deaths: Suicide and opioid overdose deaths

Death by suicide and opioid overdose has been associated with negative stigmatization. It is important to investigate whether a suicide death and a fatal opioid overdose share similar stigmatized reactions and how attitudes shape the public willingness to intervene in prevention and treatment efforts. Respondents were recruited for an online survey through convenience sampling and […]

Sexual orientation differences in lethal methods used in suicide: Findings from the National Violent Death Reporting System

We examined sexual orientation and sex differences in seven methods of suicide among adult suicides reported in the United States National Violent Death Reporting System (2012–2015; N = 59,075). Overall, most sexual minorities (i.e., lesbians, gay men, bisexuals) identified in the dataset used hanging (38%) followed by firearm (30%) and drug or poison ingestion (20%). Sexual minorities were […]

Examining grieving problem correlates of anticipation of the death vs. shock among overdose death and suicide bereaved adults

We conducted an online survey with individuals bereaved by drug deaths (n = 115), suicide (n = 185) and sudden natural deaths (n = 103), including questions about anticipating the death vs. shock, other behaviors, established measures of mental health and grieving difficulties. Results showed more drug death bereaved anticipating their loved one’s death while suicide bereaved were […]

Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 1999–2020

Deaths from drug overdose continue to contribute to overall mortality and the lowering of life expectancy in the United States (1–4). This report uses the most recent data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) to update statistics on deaths from drug overdose in the United States, showing rates by demographic group and by specific […]

Intentional drug overdose deaths in the United States

During 1999–2019, age-adjusted rates of U.S. drug-involved overdose deaths more than tripled from 6.1 to 21.6 per 100,000 (1), and suicide rates (driven primarily by firearm suicide) increased 35.2% from 10.5 to 13.9 per 100,000 (2). However, no existing studies examined differences in trends in intentional overdose deaths by age, race/ethnicity, and sex, compared with […]

Suicidal motivations reported by opioid overdose survivors: A cross-sectional study of adults with opioid use disorder

Background: Prior studies in heroin use disorder reported low rates (10%) of suicidal intention with non-fatal opioid overdose but did not assess dimensional ratings of suicidal ideation. This study aims to quantify the frequency and intensity of ratings of desire to die and perceived overdose risk proximal to the most recent opioid overdose event among individuals […]

Epidemiology of suicide by medication overdose: A population-based study 2011-2019

Backgrounds The trend of suicide attempt by medication overdose has shown an increasing trend in recent years. The present study was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of suicide attempts and completed suicide by medication overdoses in Fars’s province between 2011 and 2019. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed on 40334 suicide attempts by medication overdose. First, fetal […]

Evaluation of factors related to overdose in patients with impaired consciousness who are transported by emergency medical services: An age-specific research

Background: Drug overdose accounts for most of the admissions to the emergency department. Prescription drugs, most of which are psychotropic medications, are often misused for drug overdose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between overdose in patients transported with disorders of consciousness and psychotropic medications administered prior to transport, so as to […]

Suicide by opioid: Exploring the intentionality of the act

Opioid toxicity can result in life-threatening respiratory depression. Opioid-overdose mortality in the United States is high and increasing, but it is difficult to determine what proportion of those deaths might actually be suicides. The exact number of Americans who died of an opioid overdose but whose deaths might be classified as suicide remains unknown. It is important […]

Suicide and the opioid overdose crisis among American Indian and Alaska Natives: A storm on two fronts demanding swift action

The opioid crisis in the United States has received national attention and critical resources in the past decade. However, what has been overlooked is the effect the opioid crisis may be having on a three-decade suicide crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities that already have too few resources to address behavioral and […]

Suicide as a hidden contributor to the opioid crisis and the role that primary care and emergency medicine play in addressing it

Deaths from overdose have risen dramatically over the past decade, driven mainly by opioids. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidance on safe prescribing, safe storage of medications, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), and the use of Naloxone to reverse an overdose. Even with this guidance, overdose deaths continue to rise. Suicide prevention […]

Deciphering suicide and other manners of death associated with drug intoxification: A Centers for Disease Control and prevention consultation meeting summary

Manner of death (MOD) classification (i.e., natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined cause) affects mortality surveillance and public health research, policy, and practice. Determination of MOD in deaths caused by drug intoxication is challenging, with marked variability across states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted a multidisciplinary meeting to discuss drug intoxication deaths […]

Trends in mortality from drug poisonings, suicide, and alcohol-induced deaths in the United States from 2000 to 2017

Importance  Life expectancy has decreased in the US, driven largely by increases in drug poisoning, suicide, and alcohol-induced deaths. Assessing whether patterns of these causes differ is required to inform public health interventions. Objective  To compare patterns and trends in drug poisoning, suicide, and alcohol-induced death rates by geography and demographic characteristics. Design, Setting, and Participants  This serial […]