142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

310893
Great Recession, Alcohol Intoxication and Suicide: Results from the National Violent Death Reporting System

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 11:30 AM - 11:45 AM

Mark S. Kaplan, DrPH , Luskin School of Public Affairs, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Nathalie Huguet, PhD , School of Community Health, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Raul Caetano, MD, MPH, PhD , School of Public Health, University of Texas Dallas Regional Campus, Dallas, TX
William C. Kerr, PhD , Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, CA
Norman Giesbrecht, Ph.D. , Social & Epidemiological Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
Bentson H. McFarland, MD, PhD , Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR
Objectives: There is a large and growing body of evidence concerning the impact of contracting economies on suicide mortality risk; however, far less is known about the role acute alcohol consumption plays in the complex relationship between economic conditions and suicide. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to compare postmortem blood alcohol content (BAC) levels among suicide decedents before (2003-07), during (2008-09), and after (2010-11) the recent Great Recession.

Methods: Data from the restricted National Violent Death Reporting System 2003-11 for 41,197 male and 12,194 female suicide decedents aged 20 years and older were analyzed by multiple logistic regression to test whether there was a significant change in the prevalence of acute intoxication (defined as BAC ≥ 0.08 g/dl) before, during, and after the Great Recession.

Results: The rate of alcohol intoxication for all suicide decedents increased 10% after the onset of the economic crisis, from 21.8% in 2003-07 to 24.1% in 2008-11. Compared to the years prior to the recession, male suicide decedents showed a 1.16-fold (95% CI, 1.10-1.23) increased risk of alcohol intoxication within the first two years of the financial crisis. Notably, there was evidence of a lag effect among female suicide decedents.  Women had a 1.21-fold (95% CI, 1.08-1.35) increased risk of intoxication in 2010-11 compared to 2003-07.

Conclusions: During the recent recession there was a significant inverse relationship between economic conditions and alcohol-related suicides and the timing of the effect differed by gender.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the effects of the Great Recession on alcohol-linked suicides.

Keyword(s): Alcohol Use, Suicide

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have expertise in suicide research and serve as PI on the NIAAA grant that supported this research.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.