Psychiatric News (2/8) reports, “Youth and young adults who start taking prescription opioids appear to have double the risk of suicidal behaviors compared with those who do not start taking prescription opioids,” investigators concluded after analyzing “Swedish population-register data on nearly 1.9 million individuals aged nine to 29 years for whom there was no record of prior opioid prescriptions.” The study team “tracked prescriptions dispensed to these youth and young adults beginning in January 2007 and diagnosed self-injurious behavior and death by suicide through December 2013.” The findings were published online Feb. 7 in the journal Pediatrics.
Related Links:
— “Initiation of Prescription Opioids May Slightly Increase Risk of Suicide in Some Youth, Psychiatric News, February 8, 2022