Associated factors to abusive alcoholic beverage consumption in suicide victims

Abstract

Background: Suicide is a worldwide phenomenon, as well as a challenge for public health, and alcoholic beverage abuse is one of the most important risk factors. However, the association between possible factors related to alcoholic beverage consumption in suicide victims has rarely been investigated.

Objective: To evaluate the factors associated with abusive alcoholic beverage consumption among people who died from suicide in the Brazilian Federal District (BFD).

Method: A population-based and cross-sectional study with suicide victims in the BFD between 2016 and 2017. Information was collected about sociodemographic characteristics, autopsy appraisal, and drug use. A trained team evaluated all cases to define factors associated with abusive alcoholic beverage consumption. This outcome was measured using the Blood Alcohol Concentration. Poisson regression analysis was applied to calculate the Prevalence Ratios and respective populational confidence intervals.

Results: The findings of the present study were collected from a database containing information related to 278 suicide victims. Being male and having cocaine identified in the toxicological test were the factors that showed a strong association with abusive alcohol beverage consumption in suicide victims. Other factors showed a slight association (PR < 1.5): having an education level with greater than 8 years of study, being black, having a professional occupation or being retired or pensioner, and having the presence of cannabis in the toxicological test.

Conclusion: Socioeconomic-demographic and behavioral factors proved to be positively associated with abusive alcoholic beverage consumption among suicide victims, suggesting the need for effective public health policy measures to combat this health problem.

Keywords: Alcohol drinking; Blood alcohol content; Epidemiology; Suicide.