Suicidal behaviour among alcohol-dependent Danes attending outpatient treatment

The association between alcohol dependence and suicidal behaviour is well established and patients with suicidal behaviour in treatment for alcohol dependence present a considerable challenge for clinical services. The aim of this study is to identify risk factors for suicide attempts and to evaluate the outcome of treatment in patients in treatment for alcohol dependence. Semi-structured, detailed interviews were administered at baseline and at three sequential follow-up interviews with a large sample of 1692 patients at an outpatient treatment centre in the county of Funen in Denmark. Characteristics of, predictors for and outcome among suicidal patients were studied. Alcohol-dependent patients with a history of suicide attempts were found to constitute a highly selected group in alcohol abuse treatment as they often had a more severe course of alcohol dependence, were unemployed, younger, were more often lowly educated, and had more physical and psychiatric problems. Traumatic childhood experience related to physical or sexual abuse was found as a major predictor for suicidal behaviour among alcohol-dependent patients. We found no significant difference in the effect of treatment in patients with and without suicidal behaviour. These results support the hypothesis that alcohol-dependent patients with a history of suicide attempts are a selected group in respect to a number of demographical and psychosocial factors, but we found no difference in the outcome of treatment. This may imply that suicidal patients in treatment for alcohol abuse are treated effectively within the present treatment settings.