Hazardous drinking and clinical correlates among suicidal patients receiving psychiatric inpatient care at military medical settings

• Published in: Addictive behaviors 2020-03, Vol.102, p.106178, Article 106178
• Main Authors: Luk, Jeremy W., LaCroix, Jessica M., Thompson, Matthew F., Darmour, Charles, Perera, Kanchana U., Goldston, David, Soumoff, Alyssa, Weaver, Jennifer, Ghahramanlou-Holloway, Marjan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Alcohol-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Alcohol-Related Disorders - psychology; Anxiety Disorders - epidemiology; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Dangerous Behavior; Depressive Disorder, Major - epidemiology; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Female; Hospitalization; Hospitals, Military; Humans; Male; Military; Military Personnel - psychology; Military Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Psychiatric Department, Hospital; Psychiatric inpatient; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide attempt; Suicide ideation; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Suicide, Attempted - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0306-4603; 1873-6327
• DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106178

•Data were collected from a unique sample of military psychiatric inpatients.•In this clinical sample, 28.9% of participants reported hazardous drinking.•Hazardous drinking was associated with a diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder.•Hazardous drinking was associated with a history of actual, but not interrupted or aborted, suicide attempt(s).•Link between hazardous drinking and single attempt history remained after controlling for covariates. To describe prevalence and identify clinical correlates of hazardous drinking among suicidal inpatients at military medical settings. Data were drawn from the baseline assessment of a multisite randomized controlled trial of Post-Admission Cognitive Therapy (PACT). Participants were military Service members or adult beneficiaries (N = 218) who were admitted to inpatient care following a suicide-related crisis. Hazardous alcohol use in the past year was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). The average AUDIT score was 6.78 (SD = 7.87), with 28.9% reporting hazardous drinking (scored ≥8 on the AUDIT). Hazardous drinkers were more likely than nonhazardous drinkers to meet diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder (SUD; Odds Ratio [OR] = 5.96, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 2.13, 16.71). Hazardous drinking was neither associated with measures of suicide ideation nor aborted or interrupted suicide attempt. However, hazardous drinkers had greater risk of having both single (RRR [Relative Risk Ratio] = 2.55, 95% CI = 1.18, 5.50) and multiple actual suicide attempts (RRR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.06, 5.32) than nonhazardous drinkers. The association between hazardous drinking and single (but not multiple) actual suicide attempt remained significant after controlling for gender, depressive symptoms, hopelessness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and SUD (adjusted RRR = 2.48, 95% CI = 1.09, 5.65). A history of actual suicide attempt is associated with hazardous alcohol use among suicidal psychiatric inpatients. Assessment of drinking and drug use may inform case conceptualization and treatment of suicide-related behaviors in psychiatric inpatient settings.