Sadly, the rate of suicide for people suffering from opioid use disorder is eight times the “expected rate” of suicide globally. An encouraging new study out of Glasgow, Scotland, a city with lenient policies toward people suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD), finds the suicide rate for people receiving opioid agonist therapy (methadone or buprenorphine) was cut by two-thirds compared to those not receiving medication.

The study appears in the journal Addiction and involved tracking 46,453 people who had been treated for OUD between 2011 and 2020. Within that large group, there were 575 suicide deaths. What the researchers found was the rate of suicide deaths for those not receiving replacement drugs was three times higher than the rate when receiving medication.

Scotland has the highest rates of overdose deaths in Europe. “Overdose deaths (OD) have more than trebled in Scotland and doubled in the rest of UK in the last decade,” according to a description of the project at Glasgow Caledonian University. Lead author Rosalyn Fraser is quoted in a summary of the Glasgow study provided to MedicalXpress by the Society for the Study of Addiction:

[Opioid agonist therapy] helps people access other support services, stabilizes drug use, and provides opportunities to build therapeutic relationships and reduce isolation. It’s very important to get people with opioid dependence into drug treatment to reduce their suicide risk.

A recent study into the suicidal behavior of prison inmates came to the not-surprising conclusion that attempting suicide is “a stress coping strategy” and that it bears similarity to behavioral addictions. The fact that previous suicide attempts are the strongest predictor of future suicide attempts indicates it’s important to intervene as early as possible.

Andrew McAuley, Professor of Public Health at Glasgow Caledonian University, told MedicalXpress, 

In Scotland, trends in suicide in people who are opioid dependent declined during a period where overdose deaths more than doubled. Importantly, retention in opioid agonist treatment is a critical intervention both for suicide and opioid overdose prevention strategies. (Emphasis added.)

It seems pretty clear that the safest way to manage OUD is to get addicts into treatment as soon as possible and keep them in treatment for as long as it takes to wean them off medication and restore them to a manageable life. This is also the least expensive way of managing opioid use disorder, reducing hospitalizations, incarcerations, court costs, and drug-related crime.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published November 11, 2024.

Sources:

“Addiction treatment found to decrease suicide risk among people with opioid dependence,” MedicalXpress, October 22, 2024.

“Incidence of suicide and self-harm among people with opioid use disorder and the impact of opioid agonist treatment: a retrospective data linkage study,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, May 2023.

“Investigating suicidal behavior among prisoners in the light of the behavioral addiction approach: results of a multicenter cross-sectional study,” Frontiers in Psychiatry, July 2024.

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