Emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts more than doubled between the years of 2005 and 2011.
Two recent reports emphasized the growing suicide attempt problem. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports showed that overall there was a 51 percent increase in these types of visits in people 12 and older; the numbers jumped from 151,477 to 228,277.
One report looked at the increase in emergency department visits by age and found the overall increase was caused mostly by people between the ages of 18 and 29 or between 45 and 64. There were 47,312 visits involving 18 to 29 year-olds in 2005 and 75,068 in 2011; this represents a 58 percent increase. Visits involving people between the ages of 45 and 64 increased from 28,802 in 2005 to 58,776 visits in 2011; a 104 percent increase. In 2011 these two age groups made up 60 percent of all drug-related suicide attempts involving emergency department visits.
The other study focused on individuals between the ages of 45 and 64. They found 96 percent of the 2011 visits involved non-medical use of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications. In 2011 the drugs most widely used for suicide were anti-anxiety and insomnia medications (48 percent), pain relievers (29 percent) and antidepressants (22 percent). Other abused substances include alcohol (39 percent) and illicit drugs (11 percent). The report concluded visits from patients in this age group more than doubled for both men and women during this time period.
"Suicide continues to take lives without regard to age, income, education, social standing, race, or gender." said SAMHSA Administrator, Pamela S. Hyde. "It is a growing risk in far too many segments of our society. We must all do everything we can to combat this preventable and needless loss of life and the devastation it inflicts upon friends, families and communities across our nation."
