Suicidal attempt in adolescents with major depressive disorder

Aim: In this study, we aimed to assess the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of adolescents diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD), with and without suicide attempts, as well as to investigate the factors predicting suicide attempts. Materials and Methods: This study included 151 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years, who were diagnosed with MDD between January 2021 and June 2022. This study has a retrospective design, and data including family sociodemographic characteristics, suicide attempts and  characteristics, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) attempts, history of abuse, comorbid psychiatric disorders, and scores on depression and anxiety scales were extracted from the cases’ polyclinic records. The participants were divided into two groups as those with suicide attempts (n=40)  and those without suicide attempts (NSSI n=111), and the sociodemographic and clinical data were compared between the groups. In addition, a binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the predictors for suicide attempts. Results: The results of the study revealed that the suicide attempt group had a higher age (p=0.023), less maternal years of education (p=0.026), higher rates of self-injurious behavior (p<0.001), more severe depression (p=0.021) and anxiety (p=0.018) symptoms, and higher rates of  history of childhood abuse (p=0.001). The binary logistic regression analysis performed to predict suicide attempts in those with an MDD diagnosis determined NSSI and history of abuse to be predictors. Conclusion: A better understanding of predictive factors of suicide attempts in adolescents with depression may help establish targets for early intervention and inform more effective prevention strategies. Particularly, the presence of self-injurious behaviors and history of childhood  abuse should be warning for suicide attempts.