Suicide in Alcoholism: A Prospective Study of 55 Cases With Autopsy Findings

At initial admission, 88 alcoholic suicides had more often signs of peptic ulcer, depression, dysphoria & brittleness than other alcoholics. An autopsy on 55 of these alcoholics revealed: blood alcohol level, at the time of death & measured in 37, was over 0.1% in the brittle more often than others; the dysphoric had more often negative tests; those with ulcers did not differ from the others. Those with initial depression had more often previous attempts. 20 alcoholics experienced recent loss.