Can blood alcohol concentration have a role in choosing high lethality method of suicide?

Abstract

As acute alcohol intake can trigger suicidal ideas and attempts in people already at risk, and self-aggression is more intense after alcohol consumption, the aim of this study is to assess the relationship between blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and the lethality of suicide methods. A number of different socio-demographic and clinical predictors related to selection of high lethality methods were evaluated. This retrospective autopsy study covers an 11-year period of autopsies performed in the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Belgrade. It included 308 subjects with confirmed BAC above 0‰ who committed suicide. The suicide methods were dichotomized in terms of lethality–low lethality methods (LLM–drug/chemical overdose or use of a sharp object, n = 20) and high lethality methods (HLM–hanging, firearms and explosives, drowning, jumping from a height and immolation, n = 288). Our study did not reveal a statistically significant relationship between alcohol concentration and HLM. There is an obvious trend of HLM in rising BAC categories, but without any statistical significance. Of all tested predictors, only the male gender has significant correlation with HLM (p = 0.036). Despite the absence of correlation between BAC and HLM, the rising trend in BAC in our study showed, along with opposing literature data, that we can conclude this interconnection is highly complex. © 2020 Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences.