Use of Prescription Medication by Individuals Who Died by Suicide in Northern Ireland

Objectives: To understand medication use prior to suicide in relation to patterns, polypharmacy and adherence. Methods: 1,371 suicide cases were coded and latent class analysis used to identify combinations of medications prescribed prior to death. Results: Two thirds had been prescribed medication with 30.7% prescribed three or more. Latent class analysis revealed three classes: Mixed medication use, primarily mental medication use, and baseline/low medication use. There are potentially high rates of medication non-adherence. Conclusions: Both medication use but also non-adherence rates were high in this sample of individuals who died by suicide. Potential implications and areas for future research are discussed.