Blood Alcohol Levels Following Successful Suicide

Postmortem blood alcohol determinations were made in 69 of the 139 men and 38 of the 54 women who successfully committed suicide in Western Australia during 1961 and 1962. These samples were not biased by the selective inclusion of those more likely to have been drinking. Blood alcohol levels of over 0.15% were obtained in 22% of the men and 13% of the women, and alcohol levels of 0.05% to 0.15% in a further 26% of the men and 5% of the women. In 15 of 29 subjects in whom a raised alcohol content was found in both blood and urine specimens, the urine:blood alcohol ratio was over 1.3: 1, indicating that the alcohol had been drunk some hours before death; in only 4 was the urine alcohol level lower than that of the blood, suggesting that alcohol had been consumed only shortly before death. Of the 193 subjects, 17 (3 women) had received treatment for alcoholism and a further 16 (3 women) were regarded as alcoholics or heavy drinkers by witnesses; 2 of these committed suicide in jail after arrest for drunkenness. Of the 21 alcoholics or heavy drinkers whose blood alcohol was determined, 17 had alcohol levels of 0.05% or over. It is suggested that the mental changes associated with or following alcohol intoxication may lead to impulsive suicide in predisposed individuals and that this factor operates much more frequently in men (most especially those aged 30 to 60 years) than in women. Three brief case illustrations are given.