Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy
Open Access

Research Article

Nicotine Dependence among Patients Examined in Emergency after a Suicide Attempt

Michel Lejoyeux^1*, Simone Guillermet¹, Enrique Casalino², Valérie Lequen¹, Florence Chalvin¹, Aymeric Petit¹ and Véronique Le Goanvic¹

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Addictive Medicine, Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France and Maison Blanche Hospital, Paris, France

² Emergency Ward, Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital. AP-HP, Paris, France

*Corresponding Author:

Michel Lejoyeux
Department of Psychiatry and Addictive Medicine
AP- HP, Bichat Claude Bernard Hospital
75877 Paris Cedex 18, France
Tel: 3314025 8262
Fax: 33140256780
E-mail: michel.lejoyeux@bch.aphp.fr

Received date: September 16, 2013; Accepted date: January 24, 2014; Published date: January 31, 2014

Citation: Lejoyeux M, Guillermet S, Casalino E, Lequen V, Chalvin F, et al. (2014) Nicotine Dependence among Patients Examined in Emergency after a Suicide Attempt. J Addict Res Ther 5:168. doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000168

Copyright: © 2014 Lejoyeux M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: To assess the prevalence of nicotine dependence in a population of patients examined following a suicide attempt and to compare suicide attempts with and without nicotine dependence.

Methods: 200 patients were examined in an emergency department after a suicide attempt. They answered the MAST and the Fagerström questionnaire, and the DSM-IV-TR criteria for alcohol and nicotine were checked. We also assessed socio-demographic characteristics, the mode of suicide attempt and level of sensation seeking.

Results: The prevalence of nicotine dependence was 57% among suicide attempters. Suicide attempters with nicotine dependence were more often men (42 vs. 12%, p=0.001), single (67 vs. 32%, p=0.008) and had taken alcohol before suicide. They were often multi-attempters (2.7 vs. 1 suicide attempt in their history) and had been more often hospitalized in psychiatry (1.9 vs. 0.6 hospitalization, p<0.001) than others. They drank more alcohol (3.7 vs. 0.7 drinks/ day, p<0.001), presented more alcohol dependence and abuse (36 vs. 8%, p<0.00001) and had a higher level of sensation seeking. Factors associated to nicotine dependence were male gender, ingestion of alcohol before suicide attempt, number of previous suicide attempts and number of alcohol intoxication per week.

Conclusion: 57% of the patients examined after a suicide attempt present nicotine dependence. Emergency units may provide an opportunity to systematically identify a dependence disorder and to offer appropriate information and treatment.

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