Citation

Ilgen MA, Conner KR, Roeder KM, Blow FC, Austin K, Valenstein M. Am. J. Public Health 2012; 102(Suppl 1): S88-S92.

Affiliation

Mark A. Ilgen, Frederic C. Blow, and Marcia Valenstein are with the Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center (SMITREC), Department of Veterans Affairs, Ann Arbor, MI, and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Kenneth R. Conner is with the Canandaigua VA Center of Excellence, Canandaigua, NY, and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY. Kathryn M. Roeder is with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Karen Austin is with SMITREC, Department of Veterans Affairs, Ann Arbor.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2011.300392

PMID

22390610

Abstract

Objectives. We sought to describe the extent and nature of contact with the health care system before suicide among veterans with substance use disorders (SUDs). Methods. We examined all male Veterans Health Administration patients who died by suicide between October 1, 1999, and September 30, 2007, and who had a documented SUD diagnosis during the 2 years before death (n = 3132). Results. Over half (55.5%; n = 1740) of the male patients were seen during the month before suicide, and 25.4% (n = 796) were seen during the week before suicide. In examining those with a medical visit in the year before suicide (n = 2964), most of the last visits before suicide (56.6%; n = 1679) were in a general medical setting, 32.8% (n = 973) were in a specialty mental health setting, and 10.5% (n = 312) were in SUD treatment. Conclusions. Men with SUDs who died from suicide were frequently seen in the month before their death. Most were last seen in general medical settings, although a substantial minority of those with SUDs was seen in specialty mental health settings.

Language: en