ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2021
Nonmedical use of prescription opioids, psychological distress, and suicidality among adolescents.
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Opioid Misuse and Suicide-Related Outcomes Among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Medical Use and Misuse of Addictive Prescription Drugs and Mental Health Among Adolescents in Estonia.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2026Article
- Suicidality phenotypes reflect both shared and distinct genetic factors.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Machine learning identifies risk factors associated with long-term opioid use in fibromyalgia patients newly initiated on an opioid.RMD open · 2024Article
- Misuse of Prescription Opioids and Suicidal Behaviors Among Black Adolescents: Findings from the 2017 and 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2023Article
- Cross-phenotype relationship between opioid use disorder and suicide attempts: new evidence from polygenic association and Mendelian randomization analyses.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThe present study examined associations between nonmedical use of prescription opioids and serious psychological distress, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts, and tested whether age and sex moderate these relationships.
methodsData on 5582 adolescents were obtained from a representative province-wide survey of students in grades 7 through 12 (mean age: 15.3 years) across Ontario, Canada. Nonmedical use of prescribed opioids in the last 12 months was categorized in "no use", "infrequent use (1-2 times)", and "regular use (3 times or more)". Logistic regression analysis was adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, subjective socioeconomic status, and other substance use (i.e., tobacco cigarette, alcohol, cannabis).
resultsOverall, regular nonmedical use of prescription opioids was strongly associated with greater odds of serious psychological distress (OR: 3.47; 95% CI 1.42-8.45), suicidal ideation (OR: 2.73; 95% CI 1.84-4.05), and suicide attempts (OR: 3.21; 95% CI 1.40-7.37). However, infrequent nonmedical use of prescription opioids was associated with greater odds of serious psychological distress (OR: 1.79; 95% CI 1.08-2.98) and suicidal ideation (OR: 1.63; 95% CI 1.20-2.21), but not suicide attempts (OR: 1.84; 95% CI 0.76-4.45). Age-stratified analyses showed that both infrequent (OR: 1.61; 95% CI 1.01-2.58) and regular (OR: 3.40; 95% CI 2.11-5.46) nonmedical use of prescription opioids was strongly associated with greater odds of suicidal ideation among 15- to 20-year-olds, but not 11- to 14-year-olds.
conclusionThese findings suggest that nonmedical use of prescription opioids is strongly associated with mental health problems among adolescents. Future research using a longitudinal design is needed to confirm age differences and temporality.
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