Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0487
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-0487
+44 1478 350008
Luisa Caroline Costa Abreu
Health Sciences Teaching and Research Foundation�??s, Brazil
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother
Studies denote the association between suicide and illicit drugs’ consumption, that can be explained by increased impulsivity and impaired decision-making by individuals when using drugs. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the factors associated with illicit drugs’ consumption among suicide victims in the Brazilian Federal District. This is an analytical, cross-sectional and population-based study, developed by researchers from the Department of Health and the Civil Police Institute of Criminalistics. All victims who died due to suicide and was submitted to toxicological examination in 2018 were included. The outcome was illicit drugs’ consumption and the exposures were sociodemographic and death characteristics. Risk factors were evaluated by prevalence ratio (PR), with the respective 95% confidence interval. The chi-square test was used to calculate the p value. In 2018, 188 deaths by suicide were recorded in the Federal Distric. However, only 156 victims were submitted to toxicological examination, whose positive result for illicit drugs occurred in 32.7% of cases. Regarding the factors associated with the consumption of illicit drugs, none of the variables analyzed were statistically significant. However, those with the greatest magnitude of the effect were: the age group of 19 to 39 years; race black/brown; marital status without a partner; previous suicide attempt; exogenous intoxication as a means of suicide and place of suicide on a public road. Despite the absence of statistical significance, the variance observed indicates that these same variables range from a protective factor to a great difference for illicit drugs’ consumption.
Luísa Caroline is a 5th grade medical student, member of the research "Risk factors for licit and illicit drugs in suicide victims in the Federal District". She published “Factors Associated with Cocaine Consumption among Suicide Victim” in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.