Understanding the antecedents for suicide attempt remains one of the top goals of psychiatric epidemiology. Persons with substance use disorders are a particularly at-risk group for lifetime suicide attempt. In the current analysis, we demonstrated that persons with an AUD that attempted suicide had particularly higher levels of trauma exposure and psychiatric comorbidities, elevated polygenic scores for suicide attempt, depression, and PTSD, and lower neurophysiological functioning. Future work with larger and more diverse samples can examine additional risk factors, such as social and environmental conditions. Identifying robust predictive markers within an already high risk group may allow for earlier intervention and prevention from unnecessary loss of human life.
