suicide Archives - Medical Association of the State of Alabama

Posts Tagged suicide

STUDY: Risk of Suicide Attempt by Children Doubles if Parent Uses Opioids

Posted by admin on May 23, 2019

The suicide rate among young people in the U.S. has risen dramatically in the past 15 years. Over the same time period, opioid use and abuse in adults also has increased considerably. Researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh reported on a connection between these two epidemics in a study published this week in JAMA Psychiatry.

“Until now, there has been little focus on the association between the increase in opioid use among adults and the risk of suicidal behavior by their children,” said Robert D. Gibbons, PhD, the Blum-Riese Professor of Biostatistics and director of the Center for Health Statistics at UChicago and senior author of the paper. “We theorized such a link was plausible because parental substance abuse is a known risk factor for suicide attempts by their children. In addition, depression and suicide attempts by parents — which are known to be related to suicidal behavior in their offspring — are more common among adults who abuse opioids.”

The researchers analyzed data from more than 240,000 parents, ages 30 to 50, between 2010 and 2016. Half of the group had filled opioid prescriptions for at least 365 days. The other half had no history of using the drug during that time. The two groups were matched on a number of factors related to suicide attempts and opioid use. Rates of suicide attempts were studied in over 330,000 children, ages 10 to 19, from these two groups of parents over the same six-year period.

Of the children whose parents used opioids, 678 (0.37%) attempted suicide. Of the sons and daughters of parents who did not use opioids, 212 (0.14%) made a suicide attempt. The researchers found that opioid use by a parent is associated with a doubling of the risk of suicide attempts by their children. The results were statistically significant even when adjusted for child age and sex, depression or substance use disorder in child or parent, and history of a suicide attempt in a parent.

“These findings demonstrate that opioid use by a parent or parents doubles the risk for suicidal behavior by their children,” said David A. Brent, MD, psychiatrist and chair of suicide studies at the University of Pittsburgh, also an author on the paper. “The epidemics of adult opiate abuse and child suicidal behavior appear to be linked, and the disturbing upward trends in mortality due to opiates and due to child suicide may have common roots.”

Gibbons and Brent call for improved diagnosis and treatment of parents who use opioids as well as mental health screening and referral to care for their children. “These actions could help reverse the upward trend in deaths due to the twin epidemics of suicide and opioid overdose,” Gibbons said.

The study, “Association Between Parental Medical Claims for Opioid Prescriptions and Risk of Suicide Attempt by Their Children,” was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Kwan Hur, PhD, in the Center for Health Statistics at the University of Chicago, was also an author of the study.

Tags: child, opioid, psychiatry, suicide

Posted in: Opioid

REPORT: Nearly Half of Resident Physicians Report Burnout

Posted by admin on November 1, 2018

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Resident physician burnout in the U.S. is widespread, with the highest rates concentrated in certain specialties, according to research from Mayo Clinic, OHSU and collaborators. The findings appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Physician burnout is a dangerous mix of exhaustion and depersonalization that contributes to physicians making mistakes while administering health care.

The study found 45 percent of respondents experienced at least one major symptom of burnout, with those in urology, neurology, emergency medicine and general surgery at the highest risk. Regardless of specialty, high levels of anxiety and low levels of empathy reported during medical school were associated with burnout symptoms during residency.

“Our data show wide variability in the prevalence of burnout by clinical specialty, and that anxiety, social support and empathy during medical school relate to the risk of burnout during residency,” says Liselotte Dyrbye, M.D., a Mayo Clinic researcher and first author of the article.

Residents with burnout had more than a threefold increase in odds of regretting their decision to become a physician. When asked, “If you could revisit your career choice, would you choose to become a physician again?” those in pathology and anesthesiology were also most likely to respond “definitely not” or “probably not.” Similarly, the higher the level of anxiety reported during medical school, the greater the chance of regretting becoming a physician.

Previous research has shown physician burnout has some relation to gender and ethnicity. Residents who identified as female had a higher risk of burnout symptoms, matching studies of later-career physicians.

Although the problems facing female physicians have been reported, the study illustrated the less-studied plight of residents who self-identified as Latino or Hispanic. These individuals were more likely to regret their specialty choice. While the study did not examine the cause directly, the authors speculate that minority physicians often are pressed into participating in various institutional diversity initiatives that overtax their schedules compared to nonminority physicians.

Not all of the study’s findings were negative. The majority of residents are satisfied with their career choice and specialty. In particular, participants who reported high empathy scores during medical school appeared to be more resilient to burnout during residency. This is counter to the common narrative that physicians need “thick skin” or an emotional aloofness to perform. Similarly, high empathy scores during medical school were associated with a willingness to choose the same specialty again. In addition, participants who reported higher emotional social support during medical school were generally happier with their specialty choice.

Other burnout studies have focused on physicians-in-practice. This was the first national study to longitudinally follow medical trainees from the beginning of medical school into residency to explore predictors of burnout. The study included nearly 3,600 participants who were surveyed in the fourth year of medical school with follow-up in second year of residency. It was derived from a larger study of medical students called the Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation Study that has tracked a group of students from their first year of medical school through the last year of residency.

About 50 medical schools were included in the research. Residents were asked to provide information about their specialty, ethnicity, educational debt and other demographic characteristics. They then completed surveys that have previously been developed to measure anxiety, emotional social support, empathy and burnout.

The study was supported by a grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine Program on Physician Well-Being. Researchers from Mayo Clinic, Syracuse University, University of Minnesota, Yale University, Stanford School of Medicine, and OHSU distributed, collected and analyzed the surveys. Michelle van Ryn, Ph.D., OHSU School of Nursing was the principal investigator.

Tags: burnout, physician, resident, suicide

Posted in: Health

Speak Out! Don’t Allow Suicide to Take Another Physician’s Life.

Posted by admin on September 14, 2018

Did you know cancer was the most common cause of death among residents? Suicide was the second-leading cause of resident death — and the most common cause of death among male residents. A 2015 review of studies estimated 22 to 32 percent of resident physicians in the U.S. suffer from depressive symptoms and multiple studies have shown that residency training places physicians at risk for mental illness and suicidal thoughts.

Monday, Sept. 17, is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day, organized by the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD), in collaboration with AAEM, ACEP, ACOEP, EMRA, RSA, RSO and SAEM to annually dedicate the 3rd Monday in September to remind physicians and other health care workers that suicide can be prevented and resources are available.

“Medicine is a calling, and the practice of medicine can be a very stressful career,” said Medical Association Executive Director Mark Jackson. “Alabama’s physicians care for thousands of patients each year, but they may not always stop to take care of themselves when they need it most. Physicians have a multitude of options designed just for them when they feel they are reaching a breaking point, and that’s where we can be a lifeline.”

While estimates of the actual number of physician suicides vary, literature has shown that the relative risk for suicide being 2.27 times greater among women and 1.41 times higher among men versus the general population. Each physician suicide is a devastating loss affecting everyone – family, friends, colleagues and up to 1 million patients per year. It is both a very personal loss and a public health crisis.

Help is available for physicians who feel they need assistance. The Alabama Physician Health Program is a confidential, effective, first-line resource for physicians and other medical professionals with depression and other mental health issues. Physicians may contact the APHP at (800) 239-6272 or email staff@alabamaphp.org.

Additional Resources

Let’s Talk About Physician Burnout

Physician Suicide

Medical specialties with the highest burnout rates

Suicide Is Much Too Common among U.S. Physicians

Tags: health, prevention, suicide

Posted in: Health