Cigarette Smoking and Suicidal Behaviors in Colombian High-School Students

• Date: 01 July 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/00220426211007090
• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Author: Yuli Paola Suárez-Colorado,Adalberto Campo-Arias,Carmen Cecilia Caballero-Domínguez
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00220426211007090

Journal of Drug Issues

2021, Vol. 51(3) 566 –575

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/00220426211007090

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Article

Cigarette Smoking and Suicidal

Behaviors in Colombian

High-School Students

Adalberto Campo-Arias1,

Carmen Cecilia Caballero-Domínguez1,

and Yuli Paola Suárez-Colorado2

Abstract

The study aimed to quantify the association between last-month cigarette smoking and

lifetime suicide behaviors in high-school students at Santa Marta, Colombia. A cross-sectional

study was designed in which high-school students participated. They were asked about last-

month cigarette smoking and lifetime suicide behaviors (suicide ideation, plan, and attempt).

Crude odds ratios (ORs) were calculated and adjusted for confounding variables. A total

of 1,462 students participated and they were between 13 and 17 (M = 14.4, SD = 0.8)

years, and 60.3% girls. The last-month prevalence of cigarette smoking was 11.6%, lifetime

suicide ideation 10.2%, plan 18.5%, and attempted 15.4%. Cigarette smoking was associated

with suicide ideation (OR = 1.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.17, 2.41]), suicide plan

(OR = 1.97, 95% CI = [1.33, 2.93]), and suicide attempt (OR = 2.79, 95% CI = [1.87, 4.17]),

after adjusting for gender, family function, and depressive symptoms. In conclusion, cigarette

smoking is related to suicide behaviors in high-school students at Santa Marta, Colombia.

Keywords

smoking, suicide, adolescents, cross-sectional studies

Introduction

In Colombia, cigarette consumption regulations have been tightened during the last decade (Uang

et al., 2018). However, between 5% and 15% of school adolescents have smoked at least one ciga-

rette in the last month, depending on the country’s region (Campo-Arias et al., 2009; Martínez-

Torres & Peñuela, 2017). Cigarette smoking is a behavior associated with multiple proximal,

medial, and distal social determinants that interact complicatedly (Campo-Arias et al., 2009).

Suicide behaviors include ideas, plans, attempts, and deaths by suicide (Morrissey et al.,

2018). The most severe outcome, suicide, is a significant problem in public mental health as it

represents the second cause of mortality in populations between 10 and 24 years of age around

1Universidad del Magdalena, Santa Marta, Colombia

2Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Santa Marta, Colombia

Corresponding Author:

Adalberto Campo-Arias, Programa de Medicina, Facultad Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad del Magdalena, Carrera 32

No 22-08, Santa Marta, Magdalena 470004, Colombia.

Email: acampoa@unimagdalena.edu.co

1007090JODXXX10.1177/00220426211007090Journal of Drug IssuesCampo-Arias et al.

research-article2021