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Alcohol consumption and suicide among middle-aged men in Japan.

Akechi T, Iwasaki M, Uchitomi Y, Tsugane S

Epidemiology and Prevention Division, Research Centre for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Centre, 5 -1-1Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated large population-based cohorts for an association between alcohol consumption and suicide. AIMS: To investigate the possible association between alcohol intake and suicide. METHOD: 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.

Published 1 March 2006 in Br J Psychiatry, 188: 231-6.
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