Chinese researchers surveyed about 3,300 teens, once at age 14 and again one year later.
Less than 3 percent of teens reported prescription drug abuse, 1.8 percent reported the abuse of opiates or stimulants said and about 1 percent indicated abuse of sedatives.
Teens who indicated they used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes at the beginning of the study were almost three times more likely to report a suicide attempt the following year. The risk more than tripled for adolescents who used opioids.
“Baseline opioids misuse, sedatives misuse, and non-medical use of…prescription drugs were positively associated with later suicidal ideation,” said Lan Guo, MD, lead study of the author at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.
Overall, 17 percent of adolescents reported having suicidal thoughts, while 3 percent said they tried to commit suicide in the final survey.
While researchers cannot confidently state the reason behind this relationship, they believe the drugs may alter teenagers’ mood and lower inhibitions enough to allow suicidal impulses to take over.
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