TOPLINE:

A 1-L increase in alcohol consumption per capita was associated with a 3.59% rise in suicide mortality rates, with no sex-specific differences observed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 studies to assess the association between alcohol consumption per capita and suicide mortality.
• They included studies with longitudinal observational or cross-sectional designs that provided measures of association, effect estimates of percentage change in suicide mortality rate, and a measure of error.
• Alcohol consumption per capita was defined as the total alcohol consumed per person, (age ≥ 15 years) measured in liters of pure alcohol, using data on production, export, import, sales or taxation, and/or surveys.
• Suicide was defined as death resulting from self-directed harm with the intention to die, identified using diagnostic codes, and suicide mortality rates were calculated over a predefined period.

TAKEAWAY:

• A 1-L increase in alcohol consumption per capita was associated with a 3.59% increase in suicide mortality rates (95% CI, 2.38%-4.79%; I² value of 90%).
• Sensitivity analyses showed that excluding certain studies did not significantly alter the pooled estimate of the association.
• The analysis found no evidence of sex-specific differences in the association between alcohol consumption per capita and suicide mortality.

IN PRACTICE:

“This agreement with individual-level findings suggests that alcohol consumption per capita, a proxy measure of consumption, could be a useful metric to consider within national suicide prevention strategies,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Katherine Guo, BMSc, Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was published online on September 22, 2025, in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

Most studies did not account for confounding factors, which may have affected the observed associations. High heterogeneity was observed, and data on sex-specific alcohol consumption per capita were not utilized, limiting the interpretation of sex-specific results.

DISCLOSURES:

No funding or relevant conflicts of interest were declared by the authors.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.