Understanding Links Among Opioid Use, Overdose, and Suicide
2019
This article in The New England Journal of Medicine carefully reviews the links between suicide and overdoses, two major, growing public health issues in the U.S. The combined number of American deaths from suicide and unintentional overdose have more than doubled from 2000 to 2017. Both suicide and unintentional overdose are linked to pain and opioid use—opioid use is directly related to the risk of unintentional overdose and is also connected to suicide risk. In 2017, 40 percent of suicide and overdose deaths involved opioids. This article highlights some of the major biological, medical, and social factors linking suicide and overdose, such as pain, patterns of opioid prescribing, economic dynamics, and changes in opioid supply. It also highlights the shared demographic characteristics associated with each cause of death—rates were higher among men, among people who identified as white or Native American, and among people in midlife. The article concludes with shared approaches to prevention, including risk scores, counseling, naloxone distribution, and medication-assisted therapy.
Understanding Links Among Opioid Use, Overdose, and Suicide
Source:
Bohnert ASB, Ilgen MA. Understanding Links Among Opioid Use, Overdose, and Suicide. The New England Journal of Medicine 2019; 380: 71-79. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1802148.