Parental Use of Opioids Increase Risk of Suicide Attempt by Children

Prescription Opioid intake by parents was associated with enhanced risk of suicide attempt by their children, according to an observational new study that included 184,000 children whose parents used opioids and about 148,000 children whose parents didn't. The study linked medical claims for opioid prescriptions for parents with medical claims for suicide attempts by their children.

Parental opioid use was defined having filled prescriptions covering more than a year of an opioid between 2010 and 2016. Of the children whose parents didn't use opioids, 212 (0.14 percent) attempted suicide, while 678 (0.37 percent) of the children whose parents used opioids attempted suicide.

The increased risk of suicide attempt among children whose parents used opioids remained even after accounting for child age and sex, parent and child depression and substance use diagnoses, and parental history of suicide attempt.

Limitations of the study include a conservative definition of parental opioid use and all the claims were for families with private health insurance.



Source-Eurekalert