- The
New DAWN Report: Emergency Department Visits Involving ADHD
Stimulant Medications
According
to SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) for 2004, an estimated
7,873 drug-related emergency department visits involved methylphenidate
or amphetamine-dextroamphetamine, two medications used to treat attention
deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The most frequent reason for
these ADHD stimulant medication related visits was nonmedical use (48%),
followed by adverse reactions associated with medical use (34%), accidental
ingestion (10%), and suicide attempts (8%).
- The
OAS Report: Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempts, Major
Depressive Episode & Substance Use among Adults
Data on suicide
attempts and related behaviors are available from SAMHSA's National
Survey on Drug Use and Health and SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network
(DAWN).
Among adults who experienced a major depressive episode in the past
year, 56.3% thought during their worst or most recent episode that it
would be better if they were dead, 40.3% thought about committing suicide,
14.5% made a suicide plan, and 10.4% made a suicide attempt.
Adults with a past year major depressive
episode who reported past month binge alcohol or illicit drug use were
more likely to report suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts than their
counterparts with past year depression who did not binge drink
or use an illicit drug in the past month. In
2004, an estimated 106,079 emergency department visits were the result
of drug-related suicide attempts by persons aged 18 or older. A
psychiatric condition was diagnosed in 41% (43,176) of the drug-related
suicide attempts treated in the emergency departments. The
most frequent psychiatric diagnosis was depression.
-
According
to SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), in 2004 there were
over 15,000 emergency department visits by adolescents aged 12 to 17
whose suicide attempts involved drugs. Pain
medications were involved in about half of the suicide attempts.
Almost three quarters of the drug related suicide attempts were serious
enough to merit the patient's admission to the same hospital or transfer
to another health care facility. Antidepressants or other
psychotherapeutic medications were involved in over 40% of the suicide
attempts by adolescents who were admitted to the hospital. See
The
New DAWN Report: Disposition of Emergency Department Visits for
Drug-Related Suicide Attempts by Adolescents, 2004
- As
reported in SAMHSA's 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an
estimated 14% of youths aged 12 to 17, approximately 3.5 million youths,
had experienced at least one major depressive episode in their lifetime.
Over 7%, an estimated 1.8 million youths, had lifetime major depressive
episode and thought about killing themselves at the time of their worst
or most recent episode. An estimated 712,000 youths had tried to kill
themselves during their worst or most recent major depressive episode;
this represents 2.9% of those aged 12 to 17. See
The NSDUH Report: Suicidal
Thoughts among Youths Aged 12 to 17 with Major Depressive Episode
-
In
2000, Hispanic females aged 12 to 17 were at higher risk for suicide than
other youths. Only 32 percent of Hispanic female youths at risk for
suicide during the past year, however, received mental health treatment during
this same time period. Hispanic female youths born in the United States were at
higher risk than Hispanic female youths born outside the United States.
But rates of suicide risk were similar among Hispanic female youths across
regions and ethnic subgroups (e.g., Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central or South
American and Cuban). See The NHSDA Report: Risk
of Suicide Among Hispanic Females Aged 12 to 17.
References on
National Strategies to Prevent Suicide:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. (2001). National strategy for suicide prevention: Goals and objectives for action
(DHHS Publication No. SMA 01–3517). Rockville, MD.
http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/suicideprevention/strategy.asp
Institute of Medicine (S.K. Goldsmith,
T.C. Pellmar, A.M. Kleinman, & W.E. Bunney, Eds.). (2002). Reducing suicide: A national imperative. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
http://books.nap.edu/books/0309083214/html/index.html
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