Suicidal ideation, deliberate self-harm behaviour and suicide attempts among adolescent outpatients with depressive mood disorders and comorbid axis I disorders.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to analyse and compare prevalence and associated clinical features of suicidal ideation, self-harm behaviour with no suicidal intent and suicide attempts among adolescent outpatients with depressive mood disorders with or without comorbidity.


METHODS
A sample of 218 consecutive adolescent outpatients aged 13-19 years with depressive mood disorders was interviewed using K-SADS-PL for DSM-IV Axis I diagnoses. They filled out self-report questionnaires assessing depressive and anxiety symptoms. Suicidal behaviour was assessed by K-SADS-PL suicidality items.


RESULTS
Half of the subjects reported suicidal ideation or behaviour. There was no difference in prevalence of suicidal behaviour between non-comorbid and comorbid mood disorder groups. Multivariate logistic regression analyses produced the following associations: (1) suicidal ideation with self-reported depressive symptoms and poor psychosocial functioning, (2) deliberate self-harm behaviour with younger age and poor psychosocial functioning, and (3) suicide attempts with self-reported depressive symptoms and poor psychosocial functioning.


CONCLUSIONS
Depressed mood disorders, whether comorbid or not, are associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Diagnostic assessment should be supplemented by self-report methods when assessing suicidal behaviour in depressed adolescents.
Tuisku
Virpi
V
Dept. of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, 00300 Helsinki, Finland. Virpi.Tuisku@ktl.fi
Pelkonen
Mirjami
M
Karlsson
Linnea
L
Kiviruusu
Olli
O
Holi
Matti
M
Ruuttu
Titta
T
Punamäki
Raija-Leena
RL
Marttunen
Mauri
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data