Alcohol is a major factor in young people who take their own lives, a study of suicide in the northwest has found. And just one-third of the young suicides studied had a history of psychiatric illness, supporting the theory that many of these deaths are spontaneous in nature.
Dr Patrick McSharry of Enniscrone, Co Sligo and Dr Kim Wilson of Sligo General Hospital looked at 108 cases of suicide as determined by the Sligo County Coroner.
The cases occurred in counties Sligo and Leitrim between 1993 and 2006.
Some 83 per cent of those who had taken their own lives were men, while 71 per cent were single. And 70 per cent of suicides in the 13-year period occurred in people younger than 45.
The authors point out that this is the largest study of suicides in a single coroner's catchment outside of Dublin. They found that alcohol was present in the blood stream of one in every two people who died by suicide, and that this link was especially marked in the 15-30 year age group.
While previous research suggests up to 90 per cent of people who died by suicide had a history of psychiatric illness, this study found that 65 per cent of those aged 15-30 had no previous diagnosis of psychological illness.
The authors say they are concerned about the strong association between alcohol and suicide in young people.
"We found that alcohol was in the blood stream of 48 per cent of people who took their own lives with levels of up to 400mg found in some individuals.
"Alcohol was more likely to be present in the younger generation and up to 16 per cent has some type of drug detected in their system," the authors said.
Commenting on the implication of the research, which was presented at the annual scientific meeting of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr McSharry said: "Many people, especially teenagers and young adults, are not aware of the strong association between alcohol and suicide and this must be highlighted to them as often and as effectively as possible as Ireland is the second highest consumer of alcohol in the developed world."