Mood and anxiety disorders and their association with non-medical prescription opioid use and prescription opioid-use disorder: longitudinal evidence from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions

Suicidal ideation and suicide attempt across stages of nonmedical prescription opioid use and presence of prescription opioid disorders among U.S. adults

OBJECTIVE

This study compares the likelihood of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt across stages of nonmedical prescription opioid use and by presence of prescription opioid disorders (dependence and/or abuse) among adult respondents.

METHOD

In the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 37,933 adult respondents were asked if they had thought about suicide or had attempted suicide in the past year. The likelihood of ideation and attempt were compared across the following four categories: (a) those who never used prescription opioids, (b) former users, (c) persistent users, and (d) recent-onset users. Weighted multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine if these stages and presence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for prescription opioid disorders were associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempt.

RESULTS

Five percent of respondents (n = 2,021) reported suicidal ideation; of these, 15% (n = 310) reported attempt. Former and persistent nonmedical prescription opioid users had greater odds of suicidal ideation than those who never used these medications nonmedically. The stages of prescription opioid use were not associated with suicide attempt. Presence of prescription opioid disorders among past-year prescription opioid users was associated with suicidal ideation but not suicide attempt.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk for suicidal ideation was greater in those who no longer used prescription opioids, in persistent users, and among nonmedical users who had a prescription opioid disorder compared with users without the disorder. The results suggest a need to continue monitoring for suicide risk even among those who have stopped using prescription opioids.

Comorbidity of psychiatric and substance use disorders in the United States: current issues and findings from the NESARC

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The comorbidity between psychiatric and substance use disorders remains an important phenomenon to understand, and an active area of investigation. The purpose of this review is to highlight key 2011 issues and novel findings on psychiatric and substance disorders comorbidity from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a large national survey of the US general population.

RECENT FINDINGS

Topics of active investigation included the internalizing/externalizing meta-structure of common mental disorders; the 10 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) personality disorders; the 3-year incidence and persistence of disorders; treatment of major depression; and many other topics not as easily categorized.

SUMMARY

Meta-structure may increasingly offer a parsimonious way of addressing comorbidity, although adding new disorders adds complexity and the value of etiologic analyses utilizing broad dimensions of psychopathology rather than individual disorders is not yet fully known. Expanding the range of personality disorders beyond antisocial personality disorder appears essential in understanding the incidence and persistence of substance use disorders. Substance use disorders have low rates of treatment relative to major depression, but increase the likelihood of depression treatment among comorbid cases, a phenomenon that needs to be understood. These comorbidity studies provide much novel information, and indicate many potentially fruitful directions for new research.