Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:953-955
Copyright © 1996 by American Psychiatric Association
Disproportionate lethality in psychiatric patients with concurrent alcohol and cocaine abuse
IM Salloum, DC Daley, JR Cornelius, L Kirisci and ME Thase
Center for Psychiatric and Chemical Dependency Services, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the association between
active, concomitant cocaine and alcohol abuse and the prevalence and
severity of current suicidal and homicidal behavior among hospitalized
psychiatric patients. METHOD: Three groups of patients--with cocaine and
alcohol abuse (N = 38), alcohol abuse only (N = 38), and cocaine abuse only
(N = 25)--consecutively admitted to a psychiatric and substance abuse
dual-diagnosis unit were comparatively examined for the presence of current
suicidal and homicidal behavior. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Logistic
regression analysis revealed that the alcohol and cocaine abuse group had a
higher likelihood of associated current homicidal behavior than the
alcohol-only and the cocaine-only groups.
