Using cocaine and alcohol together has been linked to an increase in suicide risk, according to a new study.
After examining data from hundreds of patients at suicidal emergency departments in the United States, researchers from Brown University found that simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use was a red flag when it came to suicide risk.
"One unexpected finding was that, when examined independently, alcohol use had no significant association and cocaine use had a borderline significant association," researchers wrote in the study. "However, reporting both alcohol misuse and cocaine use was significantly associated with a future suicide attempt."
The latest study involved 874 patients who were treated at one of eight emergency departments around the country between 2010 and 2012. Researchers noted that all patients involved in the study had received standard care and reported attempting suicide or actively engaging in suicidal thoughts at the time of the first emergency department visit.
Study data revealed that 195 of the 874 patients in the study attempted suicide at least once in the year following the initial emergency department visit.
While patients in the study reported abusing many different substances - like prescription painkillers, marijuana, stimulants and tranquilizers - only cocaine and alcohol seemed to predict suicide risk.
The findings revealed that the risk of attempting suicide was 2.4 times greater among people who used alcohol and cocaine simultaneously.
"Patients who have potentially comorbid alcohol and cocaine use may be at a higher risk. Findings like these can be useful for informing suicide risk assessment," said Sarah Arias, an assistant professor (research) of psychiatry and human behavior in the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, who led the study.
The study also revealed that substance abuse was less likely a predictor of suicide risk among whites and women. While women were significantly more likely to report previous suicide attempts, they were less likely to be involved in substance abuse.
"These disparate findings emphasize the complex interaction of sex, substance use and suicide attempts," researchers wrote. "They also suggest women may be differentially at risk depending on whether they report substance use or past suicide attempts."
Researchers noted that the latest findings show that there is a correlation, not causation, between substance abuse and suicide.
"It's not a clear-cut, straightforward association," said Arias. "Even though substance use is often touted as a very strong predictor of suicidal intentions and behaviors, when we look at individual substances we're seeing that there's not that consistency in the future association with behavior."
The findings were published in the journal Crisis.
