SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
This article is part of the Research TopicTreatment and Management of Stimulant Use Disorder and Co-Occurring DisordersView all 7 articles
suicide and Psychiatric Disorders Associated with Amphetamine Type Stimulant Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
Halima Mohamed Adam1*
Ahmed Hamed Aljadani1
Mohamed Ahmed Abouzed2,3Benayan Bani Alrasheedy1
Muath Abdulaziz Alarfaj3- 1University of Hail, Ha'il, Saudi Arabia
- 2Al-Azhar University, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt
- 3Iradah Complex for Mental Health, HAIL, Saudi Arabia
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Objective: This study reviews the literature to determine the prevalence and nature of suicidality and psychiatric comorbidity in individuals with amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) use to inform targeted interventions. Methods: We searched the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases for relevant papers published until March 2025. Two independent reviewers collected the following data: baseline information, outcomes, prevalence of suicidality, psychiatric disorders, employment status, marital status, additional substances used, age at onset of use, and duration of use. Results: We collected 2,969 records after excluding 2,072 duplicates. Thorough screening yielded 70 entries eligible for inclusion. Our analysis revealed prevalence rates of 26% for depression, 22% for hallucinations, 20% for suicidality, 23% for suicidal ideation, 17% for suicide attempts, and 13% for deaths by suicide. Additionally, 38% of individuals who use ATS also used multiple other substances concurrently, and the mean duration of ATS use was estimated to be 5.13 years. The total pooled sample size across all included studies was 311,669 persons. Conclusion: This systematic review highlights the high prevalence of psychiatric conditions, including depression, hallucinations, and suicidality, frequently co-occurring with concurrent use of multiple substances and psychiatric disorders. These findings represent prevalence rates within the ATS-using population, and no comparison with non-ATS populations was performed; therefore, they do not imply an excess or attributable risk. The results underscore the critical need for integrated screening and service-planning guidance in this vulnerable population.
Keywords: Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, stimulant, substance use disorder, Suicide
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 19 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Adam, Aljadani, Abouzed, Alrasheedy and Alarfaj. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Halima Mohamed Adam
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.