title: The association between premorbid cognitive ability and social functioning and suicide among young men: A historical-prospective cohort study.
abstract: Previous studies have found associations between low cognitive ability and later completed suicide. The aim of this study was to examine the association between cognitive ability and social functioning in adolescence, and later completed suicide in a large population-based longitudinal study. Data from the Israeli Draft Board Register for 634,655 Israeli male adolescents aged 16 and 17 was linked to a causes-of-death data registry, with a mean follow-up of 10.6 years for completed suicide. Our results show that in males without a psychiatric diagnosis, both low (adjusted HR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.19-1.92) and high (adjusted HR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.04-1.77) cognitive ability, and very poor (adjusted HR=2.30, 95% CI: 1.34-3.95) and poor (adjusted HR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.34-2.07) social functioning were associated with increased risk for later completed suicide; however positive predictive values were low (PPVs=0.09% and 0.10%, for low cognitive ability and very poor or poor social functioning, respectively). No association between cognitive ability or social functioning and risk for suicide was found in males with a psychiatric diagnosis. These data do not support the clinical utility of screening for such potential predictors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Department of Psychiatry, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: mweiser@netvision.net.il.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiser
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Daphna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fenchel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Nomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Werbeloff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Shira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.affiliation: Rappaport School of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel; Department of Psychiatry, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel; IDF Medical Corps, Israel, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fruchter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reichenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Shimon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burshtein
authors.affiliation: School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Large
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Department of Psychiatry, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: Jerusalem Mental Health Center, Kfar Shaul Psychiatric Hospital, Israeli Ministry of Health, Israel.
authors.forename: Gad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lubin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012919:Social Behavior; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Cognitive ability; Social functioning; Suicide