Washington, May 26 (ANI): Nearly a quarter of U.S. suicide victims are legally intoxicated when they die, a large-scale study has found.

These victims are also much more likely than their sober counterparts to commit suicide by violent means such as using a firearm, hanging themselves or falling to their deaths.

Portland State University researchers analysed the blood-alcohol levels in nearly 58,000 suicide cases across 16 states and found that 22 percent of victims were drunk when they died.

Twenty-four percent of men and 17 percent of women who committed suicide had blood-alcohol levels of at least 0.08 g/dL, the legal standard for intoxication.

This is the largest study to date in the U.S. that looked at blood alcohol levels at the time of death, lead researcher Dr. Mark Kaplan, professor of community health at Portland State University, told Fox News.

Most studies in the past have focused on the risk of suicide among people with chronic alcohol problems like alcoholism or alcohol dependence, he added. (ANI)