According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN):
In 2004, there were over 15,000 emergency department (ED) visits by adolescents aged 12 to 17 whose suicide attempts involved drugs.
- Almost three quarters of these drug-related suicide attempts were serious enough to merit the patient's admission to the same hospital or transfer to another health care facility.
- Pain medications were involved in about half of the suicide attempts.
- Antidepressants or other psychotherapeutic medications were involved in over 40 percent of the suicide attempts by adolescents who were admitted to the hospital. DAWN data do not distinguish which of the patients had been prescribed antidepressants to treat a preexisting condition.