Suicide Probability Among Tramadol Addicts

Objectives: Tramadol addiction is one of the major addiction problems in growing countries, especially in Egypt. Moreover, there is a strong relation between suicidality and addiction even after exclusion of personality disorders; the burden of suicide adds to the burden of substance abuse in those individuals and their families. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 72 tramadol-dependent patients who were recruited randomly in this study from the addiction outpatient clinic of Okasha Institute of Psychiatry of Ain Shams University, after obtaining an informed consent. They are assessed by (1) Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition Axis I Disorders for diagnosis of substance use disorder, (2) Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition Axis II Disorders for exclusion of personality disorders, (3) suicide probability scale, and (4) Addiction Severity Index. Results: Regarding suicidal probability, 44.44% of the sample showed risk of suicide, which was severe among 19.44%, moderate among 11.11%, and mild among 13.89% of the sample. Regarding “Addiction Severity Index,” most patients had no real medical problem. In the employment domain, 38.89% had a slight problem. In the drug use domain, 80.56% had a moderate problem. There is a significant relation between the degree of medical, drug use, and legal problem and the severity of suicidal risk. Moreover, the longer duration of addiction and the advanced age of patients are risk factors for suicidal probability. Conclusions: There is a suicide probability among tramadol addicts. The duration of tramadol use could be considered a strong risk factor for suicide, as the longer the duration of tramadol, the higher the suicidal risk.