TY - JOUR
PY - 2024//
TI - Analysis of nonfatal suicide attempts and demographic characteristics of US military veterans with opioid use disorder: a descriptive VA medical center study
JO - American journal on addictions
A1 - Çelik, Muhammet
A1 - Cosentino, Danielle
A1 - Fuehrlein, Brian
SP - ePub
EP - ePub
VL - ePub
IS - ePub
N2 - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Suicide and opioid use disorder (OUD) frequently co-occur, and veterans are at a high risk for both conditions. This study aims to determine the characteristics of a cohort of veterans with co-occurring OUD and suicide attempts.
METHOD: Three hundred fifty-three (n = 353) veterans registered at a VA medical center with OUD and at least one suicide attempt between January 2010 and December 2021 were analyzed.
RESULTS: 9.4% of OUD veterans had lifetime suicide attempts, with 7.1% attempting postdiagnosis. High rates of unemployment (88.1%) and housing instability (73.1%) were observed, along with a 98% prevalence of comorbid psychiatric conditions.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Gaining a deeper understanding of this patient population can help improve strategies for preventing suicide and treating OUD more effectively. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFIANCE: This study is unique in the current literature for investigating and comparing nonfatal lifetime suicide attempt rates in veterans before and after an OUD diagnosis.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1055-0496 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajad.13519 ID - ref1 ER -