Suicidal Ideation among Persons with Alcohol Use Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Suicide is a major threat to public health worldwide. Evidence suggests alcohol use disorders (AUD) are associated with suicide ideation. There is a paucity of studies in India regarding suicidal ideation among individuals receiving in-patient treatment for alcohol dependence. Aim: To assess the suicidal ideation and its severity among persons with alcohol use disorder. Methods: Cross-sectional research design was used. Totally 47 persons with alcohol use disorder receiving in-patient treatment were screened for suicidal ideation using a consecutive sampling technique based on inclusion and exclusion criteria at centre for addiction medicine, tertiary care teaching hospital at Bangalore. An interview schedule was used to collect the data. Tools: Mini+ suicidality was used for screening suicidal ideation and Columbia suicide severity rating scale was used to assess the frequency and severity of the suicidal ideation. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean were used for data analysis. Results & Discussion: Out of 47 patients, 29 reported having suicidal ideations (62%). AUD suicidal ideation was more among persons belong to below poverty line, lower education level, unemployed, married, living with family of origin, nuclear family, urban, using tobacco. Their mean age was 35 years (±6.6). Majority (62%) of them had suicidal ideation in the past one month, 43% reported having thought to kill themselves over the past one month. One-third (35%) able to control suicidal thought with lot of difficulty, 83% reported that deterrents stopped them attempting suicide, 82%wanted to end their life to end or stop the pain that they are enduring. Conclusion: The prevalence of suicidal ideations is high among persons with alcohol use disorder. Socio-demographic factors likely to have an influence on suicidal ideation among persons with alcohol use disorder.