Title: Trend of suicide attempt in adolescent and young adults<br/>Author: Hong Kim<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/526/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p> </p> <p> The rate of suicide attempt has been increasing over the past decade. A recently published article investigated the temporal trend of suicide attempts in adolescent/young adult population (10 – 25 years old) from 2000 to 2018.</p> <p> Methods</p> <ul> <li> All intentional – suspected suicide cases were identified from the National Poison Data System from Jan 1, 2000 to December 31, 2018. </li> <li> Following age groups were compared: 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21 and 22-25 years old.</li> </ul> <p> <strong>Results</strong></p> <ul> <li> A total of 1,677,435 cases were identified with 0.1% fatality (n=1579).</li> <li> Female: 70.6% (n=1,184,691) </li> <li> Single substance (64.1%; n=1,074,423)</li> <li> Highest suicide attempt rate: 16-18 years (30.1%; n=504,682)</li> <li> Lowest suicide attempt rate: 10-12 years (2.3%; n=38,428)</li> </ul> <ul> <li> The suicide attempt rate increased significantly <strong>starting 2011</strong> in 10-12, 13-15 and 16-19 years age groups with seasonal trend <ul> <li> Higher during school months (Sept to May) vs. non-school months (June-August)</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p> Top 5 substance involved in suicide attempt</p> <ol> <li> OTC analgesics</li> <li> Antidepressants</li> <li> Sedative hypnotics</li> <li> Antihistamines</li> <li> Antipsychotics</li> </ol> <p> Agents associated with serious medical outcome (after 2011)</p> <ol> <li> Antidepressants</li> <li> OTC analgesics</li> <li> Antihistamines </li> <li> ADHD medications</li> </ol> <ul> <li> ADHD medicaitons: common in 10-15 years population</li> <li> Sedative hypnotics (e.g. benzodiazepines): common in older age group (16-25 years)</li> </ul> <p> <strong>Conclusion</strong></p> <ul> <li> Rate of suicide attempt in adolescent and young adults has increase, especially since 2011.</li> <li> The substance used in suicide attempt usually involves medications available to the specific age group.</li> <li> OTC medications (analgesics and antihistamines) were involved in a third of the suicide attemps.</li> </ul> <fieldset><legend>References</legend>
<p> Spiller HA et al. Suicide attempts by self-poisoning in the United States among 10-25 year olds from 2000 to 2018: substances used, temporal changes and demographics. Clin Toxicol (Phila) 2019. <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 11.004500389099121px;">Oct 6:1-12. doi: 10.1080/15563650.2019.1665182. [Epub ahead of print]</span></p> </fieldset>