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The relationship of conduct disorder to attempted suicide and drug use history among methadone maintenance patients
Author(s) -
DARKE SHANE,
ROSS JOANNE,
LYNSKEY MICHAEL
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
drug and alcohol review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0959-5236
DOI - 10.1080/0959523021000059794
Subject(s) - heroin , psychiatry , drug , methadone maintenance , methadone , medicine , suicide attempt , heroin dependence , substance abuse , suicide prevention , poison control , medical emergency
In order to examine the effects of a diagnosis of childhood conduct disorder (CD) on history of attempted suicide and drug use, unconfounded by early onset heroin use, 181 methadone maintenance patients who commenced heroin use after the age of 15 were interviewed. CD was diagnosed in 54% of patients. Compared to other patients, CD patients were younger and less educated. The onset of drug use, injecting drug use and heroin use occurred, on average, 2 years earlier than in other patients, and they had broader histories of injecting polydrug use. CD patients were more likely to have attempted suicide and to have been hospitalized after an attempt, and to have attempted suicide while enrolled in their current treatment. The current study indicates that a history of CD increases the risk of attempted suicide over and above the higher risks associated with injecting drug use per se.