Initiation of Opioid Prescription and Risk of Suicidal Behavior Among Youth and Young Adults.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Opioids are involved in an increasing proportion of suicide deaths. This study examined the association between opioid analgesic prescription initiation and suicidal behavior among young people.

Methods

We analyzed Swedish population-register data on 1 895 984 individuals ages 9 to 29 years without prior recorded opioid prescriptions. We identified prescriptions dispensed from January 2007 onward and diagnosed self-injurious behavior and death by suicide through December 2013. We first compared initiators with demographically matched noninitiators. To account for confounding, we applied an active comparator design, which examined suicidal behavior among opioid initiators relative to prescription nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) initiators

SUBMITTER: Fine KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9624202 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature