Year: 2010 Source: Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, v.40, no.4, (August 2010), p.416-420 SIEC No: 20101087

In order to examine risk factors for attempting suicide in heroin dependent patients, a group of 527 abstinent opiate dependent patients had a psychiatric interview & completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Patients who had or had never attempted suicide were compared on putative suicide risk factors. It was found that 207 of the 527 had attempted suicide. Attempters were younger; more were female, reported childhood trauma, a family history of suicidal behaviour, a history of aggression, treatment with antidepressant medication, & alcohol & cocaine dependence. Logistic regression revealed that a family history of suicidal behaviour, alcohol dependence, cocaine dependence, & treatment with antidepressant medication were significant predictors of attempting suicide. Results suggest attempting suicide is common among opiate dependent patients & that both distal & proximal risk factors may play a role. (16 refs.) JA