Citation

Bagge CL, Littlefield AK, Conner KR, Schumacher JA, Lee HJ. J. Affect. Disord. 2014; 165: 53-58.

Affiliation

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Department of Psychology, 2441 E. Hartford Avenue, Garland 211, Milwaukee, WI 53211, United States. Electronic address: leehj@uwm.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2014.04.010

PMID

24882177

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The extent to which acute exposures such as alcohol use (AU) and negative life events (NLE) are uniquely associated with intensity of suicidal ideation during the hours leading up to a suicide attempt is unknown. The main aim of the current study was to quantify the unique effect of acute exposures on next-hour suicidal ideation when adjusting for previous hour acute exposures and suicidal ideation. An exploratory aim of the current study was to examine the effect of non-alcohol drug use (DU) on suicidal ideation.

METHODS: Participants included 166 (61.0% female) recent suicide attempters presenting to a Level 1 trauma hospital. A timeline follow-back methodology was used to assess acute exposures and intensity of suicidal ideation within the 24h prior to the suicide attempt.

RESULTS: Findings indicated that acute AU (b=.20, p<.01) and NLE (b=.58, p<.01) uniquely predicted increases in next-hour suicidal ideation, over and above previous hour suicidal ideation, whereas acute DU did not. LIMITATIONS: The current study׳s methodology provides continuous hourly snapshots prior to the suicide attempt, quite close to when it happened, but is retrospective and causality cannot be inferred.

CONCLUSIONS: Understanding that, within a patient, AU and NLE predict near-term increases in suicidal ideation has practical utility impacting providers׳ clinical decision-making, safety concerns, and ultimate determination of level of risk for suicide.

Language: en