Parents with opioids put kids at twice the risk of suicide attempts

Children whose parents have opioid prescriptions have double the risk of attempting suicide, study finds

  • Both opioid misuse and youth suicides are on the rise in the US 
  • In the last decade, youth and teen suicide attempts have increased by 25 percent 
  • Among girls, self-poisoning, often with pills, is the most common method
  • University of Chicago Medical Center research found that 0.14 percent of kids whose parents don’t use opioids attempted suicide between 2010 and 2016 
  • But the rate was double that – 0.36 percent – among kids whose parents have prescriptions for the powerful painkillers  

Children whose parents have opioid prescriptions are at twice the risk of attempting suicide, a new study reveals. 

High rates of youth suicides and opioid misuse at all ages are plaguing the US. 

And access to lethal means is considered a top risk factor for suicide attempts and completions. 

Though the term ‘lethal means’ is often used to refer to firearms in the house, the new study from the University of Chicago Medical Center goes to show that a prescription for potent drugs can pose a danger to children too. 

Having their parents prescription opioids at home puts teenagers at twice the risk of attempting suicide, a new study reveals 

In the last decade, the number of children and teenagers considering suicide has increased by 25 percent, and the rate of 15- to 19-year-olds committing suicide has climbed a steep 33 percent. 

Families who have lost children to suicide and public health officials alike have made it clear that it’s paramount for parents and teachers to do everything possible to minimize the risks that children will harm themselves, and instead get them help.  

But the signs that someone is suicidal – especially in young people – can be elusive, to say the least. 

The best parents can do in many cases, then, is to leave the door open to their children to talk about what they’re feeling, and try to make their homes the safest places possible. 

And that means closely guarding their prescriptions. 

Self-poisoning – often with drugs – is the most common method of suicide attempts chosen by women and girls. 

Suicide attempts have always been more common among girls than boys, but in recent years, the gap in suicide deaths between the two genders of young people has been closing. 

Researchers say that young female suicides rates are catching up to those of boys in part because they are choosing more lethal means – like suffocation, hanging and guns – but poisoning, often with pills, remains the most commonly attempted method. 

And they can prove deadly for girls and boys alike. 

Since children are rarely prescribed opioids themselves, researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center wondered if access to the drugs through their parents might be be a predictive factor in suicide attempt risks. 

They analyzed data on over 332,500 children in the US, and divided them by whose parents did or did not have opioid prescriptions. 

More children – 184,142 – had parents who do use opioids, which can fatally depress the nervous system and breathing when taken in excess.  

Only 212, or 0.14 percent, of the children whose parents did not use opioids attempted suicide between 2010 and 2016. 

The rate of attempted suicide was double that among those whose parents did have opioid prescriptions. 

Among those children, 678, or 0.37 percent attempted suicide in the same time period. 

That single factor – parental opioid use – was predictive of suicide attempt risk, regardless of children’s gender, and whether they or their parents had a history of depression, substance abuse or had previously attempted suicide. 

‘The epidemics of adult opiate abuse and child suicidal behavior appear to be linked, and the disturbing upward trends in mortality due to opiates and due to child suicide may have common roots,’ said study co-author Dr David Brent a UCMC psychiatry professor.    

  • For confidential support in the UK call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details. 
  • For confidential support in the US call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255  
  • For confidential support in Australia call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk