Another important finding, largely consistent with Zerbini et al. [19] and Holmgren and Jones [20], is that BAC levels among male and female suicide decedents were surprisingly similar. In other words, although general living population data have consistently showed that men are more likely than women to drink and to drink in excess [21-23], among suicide decedents there appeared to be virtual gender parity in acute alcohol use immediately prior to their death. One possible explanation for this finding is that women are more likely than men to poison themselves and alcohol may be used as one of the poisoning agents in combination with other substances. Indeed, the NVDRS showed that BAC+ female decedents were two to five times more likely to die of poison (including ethanol, illicit drugs, and medications) ingestion than their male counterparts [8].
