Impact of comorbid affective and alcohol use disorders on suicidal ideation and attempts

The effect of concurrent affective and alcohol use disorders on suicidal id eation and behavior was investigated. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule Ver sion III-R (DIS) was administered to 307 adult Veteran men ranging in age f rom 23 to78. Participants were classified into one of four groups based on their final DIS diagnosis-lifetime unipolar depression and lifetime bipolar I disorder with or without a lifetime alcohol use disorder. Logistic regre ssion analyses indicated that veterans with a major affective disorder were at greater risk for suicidality than veterans without an affective disorde r. However, veterans with unipolar depression were at no greater risk for s uicidality than those with bipolar I disorder. Unipolar and bipolar 1 disor ders with a concurrent alcohol use disorder were always associated with an increased risk for suicidality. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.