title: Heavy Alcohol Use Among Suicide Decedents Relative to a Nonsuicide Comparison Group: Gender-Specific Effects of Economic Contraction.
abstract: The primary objective of this gender-stratified study was to assess the rate of heavy alcohol use among suicide decedents relative to a nonsuicide comparison group during the 2008 to 2009 economic crisis.
  
  
  
  The National Violent Death Reporting System and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were analyzed by gender-stratified multiple logistic regression to test whether change in acute intoxication (blood alcohol content ≥0.08 g/dl) before (2005 to 2007), during (2008 to 2009), and after (2010 to 2011) the Great Recession mirrored change in heavy alcohol use in a living sample.
  
  
  
  Among men, suicide decedents experienced a significantly greater increase (+8%) in heavy alcohol use at the onset of the recession (adjusted ratio of odds ratio = 1.15, 95% confidence interval = 1.10 to 1.20) (relative to the prerecession period) than did men in a nonsuicide comparison group (-2%). Among women, changes in rates of heavy alcohol use were similar in the suicide and nonsuicide comparison groups at the onset and after the recession.
  
  
  
  Acute alcohol use contributed to suicide among men during the recent economic downturn. Among women who died by suicide, acute alcohol use mirrored consumption in the general population. Women may show resilience (or men, vulnerability) to deleterious interaction of alcohol with financial distress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Welfare, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Huguet
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Oakland, California.
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caetano
authors.affiliation: Social and Epidemiological Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Giesbrecht
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, California.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Bentson H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: McFarland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D057172:Economic Recession; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Alcohol; Gender; Recession; Suicide