Alcohol consumption and suicide among middle-aged men in Japan.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have investigated large population-based cohorts for an association between alcohol consumption and suicide.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the possible association between alcohol intake and suicide.


METHODS
We used nationwide population-based cohort data from the Japan Public Health Centre-Based Prospective Study cohort. A total of 43 383 men aged 40-69 years participated. Death from suicide was defined according to ICD-10 as codes X60-X84.


RESULTS
During the 367817 person-years of follow-up, there were 168 suicides. Compared with occasional drinkers, the pooled multivariate relative risk (RR; with 95% CI) of suicide for non-drinkers and regular heavy drinkers was 2.3 (1.2-4.6) and 2.3 (1.2-4.7) respectively. The RR increased with the amount of alcohol consumed (P for trend=0.004).


CONCLUSIONS
There is a U-shaped association between alcohol consumption and subsequent suicide.
Akechi
Tatsuo
T
Epidemiology and Prevention Division, Research Centre for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Centre, 5 -1-1Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan.
Iwasaki
Motoki
M
Uchitomi
Yosuke
Y
Tsugane
Shoichiro
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013695:Temperance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D000431:Ethanol; C096127:ALDH2 protein, human; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial