Linnea Karlsson

Suicidal ideation, deliberate self-harm behaviour and suicide attempts among adolescent outpatients with depressive mood disorders and comorbid axis I disorders

ObjectiveWe 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.MethodA 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.ResultsHalf 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. ConclusionsDepressed 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.

Depressed adolescents as young adults - Predictors of suicide attempt and non-suicidal self-injury during an 8-year follow-up

BACKGROUND Clinically derived follow-up studies examining the predictors of suicide attempts (SA) and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents are scarce. The aims were to study SA and NSSI as predictors of future NSSI and SA, and to study the role of other risk and protective factors, especially alcohol use, and perceived social support from family and peers during a 1-year follow-up and between the 1-year and 8-year follow-ups among consecutively referred depressed adolescent outpatients. METHODS The Adolescent Depression Study (ADS) is a longitudinal study of depressed adolescent outpatients (mean age at baseline 16.5 years, 81.8% females). The subjects of the present study (n=139, 63.8% of the original study population) were assessed at baseline, at 1-year and 8-year follow-ups using semi-structured diagnostic interviews (K-SADS-PL) for DSM-IV diagnoses, and structured self-report scales for clinical risk factors. RESULTS In multivariate comparisons, SAs were predicted both in the 1-year follow-up and in the period between the 1- and 8-year follow-ups by alcohol use and low perceived peer support. NSSI in the 1-year of follow-up was predicted by baseline NSSI, younger age and alcohol use, whereas the only significant predictor for NSSI between the 1- and 8-year follow-ups was NSSI. LIMITATIONS A large majority of the sample were females, limiting the possibility to analyze gender differences. CONCLUSIONS Among depressed outpatients NSSI is a strong predictor of suicidal behavior, and other factors beyond depression, such as alcohol use and availability of social support, must also be addressed to prevent the recurrence of suicidal behavior.

Current comorbidity among consecutive adolescent psychiatric outpatients with DSM-IV mood disorders

ObjectiveTo compare selected characteristics (age, sex, age of onset for depression, impairment, severity of depression, somatic comorbidity, and treatment status) of adolescents with currently comorbid and non-comorbid depression.MethodA sample of 218 consecutive adolescent (13–19 years) psychiatric outpatients with depressive disorders, and 200 age- and sex-matched school-attending controls were interviewed for DSM-IV Axis I and Axis II diagnoses.ResultsCurrent comorbidity, most commonly with anxiety disorders, was equally frequent (>70%) in outpatients and depressed controls. Younger age (OR 0.20; 95% CI 0.08, 0.51) and male gender (OR 0.02; 95% CI 0.09, 0.55) were associated with concurrent disruptive disorders. Current comorbidity with substance use disorders (SUD) was independent of age (OR 1.13; 95% CI 0.51, 2.49) and sex (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.22, 1.17). Personality disorders associated with older age (OR 2.06; 95% CI 1.10, 3.86). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, impairment (GAF ≤60) was associated with current comorbidity (OR 3.13; 95% CI 1.53, 6.45), while severity of depression and lifetime age of onset for depression were not.ConclusionsAdolescent depression presents with age- and sex-dependent patterns of multiple co-occurring problem areas. While many clinical characteristics of adolescent depression are not affected by comorbidity, comorbidity associates with increased impairment.

Psychometric properties and clinical utility of the Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI) in adolescents

BackgroundAccurate assessment of suicidality is of major importance in both clinical and research settings. The Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI) is a well-established clinician-rating scale but its suitability to adolescents has not been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity, and to test an appropriate cutoff threshold for the SSI in a depressed adolescent outpatient population and controls.Methods218 adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinic patients suffering from depressive disorders and 200 age- and sex-matched school-attending controls were evaluated by the SSI for presence and severity of suicidal ideation. Internal consistency, discriminative-, concurrent-, and construct validity as well as the screening properties of the SSI were evaluated.ResultsCronbachs α for the whole SSI was 0.95. The SSI total score differentiated patients and controls, and increased statistically significantly in classes with increasing severity of suicidality derived from the suicidality items of the K-SADS-PL diagnostic interview. Varimax-rotated principal component analysis of the SSI items yielded three theoretically coherent factors suggesting construct validity. Area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.84 for the whole sample and 0.80 for the patient sample. The optimal cutoff threshold for the SSI total score was 3/4 yielding sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 88.9% in this population.ConclusionsSSI appears to be a reliable and a valid measure of suicidal ideation for depressed adolescents.

Factors associated with deliberate self-harm behaviour among depressed adolescent outpatients

This study examined whether depressed adolescent outpatients with deliberate self-harm behaviour (DSH) differed from non-suicidal depressed adolescent outpatients in depressive and anxiety symptoms, alcohol use, perceived social support and number of negative life-events. Depressed adolescent outpatients (n=155) aged 13-19 years were interviewed using K-SADS-PL for DSM-IV Axis I diagnoses and completed self-report questionnaires. Suicidal behaviour was assessed by K-SADS-PL suicidality items. Depressed adolescents with DSH were younger, perceived less support from the family, had more severe depressive symptoms and used more alcohol than non-suicidal depressed adolescents. Adolescents with DSH and suicidal ideation or suicide attempts had more depressive and anxiety symptoms than adolescents with DSH only. Adolescents with severe internalizing distress symptoms are at risk not only for DSH, but also additional suicidal behaviour. Family interventions may be needed in the treatment of depressed adolescents with DSH.

Sleep complaints among adolescent outpatients with major depressive disorder.

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to examine the prevalence rates of different sleep complaints among adolescent outpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Further, we examined whether depressed adolescents with and without different sleep disturbances differ in terms of severity of depression, the presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders, and the symptom profile of depression. METHODS A total of 166 Finnish adolescent psychiatric outpatients (age 13-19; mean 16.5 years old; 17.5% boys) diagnosed with unipolar MDD (as defined by DSM-IV criteria) were included in the study. Their sleep complaints were assessed with self-rating scales and clinical research interviews. RESULTS The prevalence rate of subjective sleep complaints in adolescents with MDD was high: 83% of the adolescents experienced significantly disturbed sleep. The most common types of sleep complaints were nonrestorative sleep (69%) and insomnia (51%). The presence of sleep disturbances was associated with severity of depression: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) total sum scores were highest in adolescents with multiple sleep disturbances and lowest in adolescents with no sleep problems. Adolescents with multiple sleep disturbances differed most from adolescents with no or minor sleep disturbances in terms of thoughts about death, suicidal thoughts, and anhedonia. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest a close link between sleep disturbances and the severity of depression in adolescent outpatients with MDD. In particular, the link between sleep disturbances and thoughts about death and suicidal thoughts calls for attention to sleep problems among depressed adolescents in clinical settings.

Psychometric Properties of the Defense Style Questionnaire (dsq-40) in Adolescents

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40) in adolescents. Internal consistency, factor structure, and discriminant and concurrent validity of the DSQ-40 were studied in 211 adolescent psychiatric outpatients aged 13 to 19 years and 199 age-matched and sex-matched controls. Principal components analysis yielded four internally consistent components: mature, neurotic, image-distorting, and immature defense styles. The outpatients reported more immature, image-distorting, and neurotic styles and less mature style than did the controls, suggesting adequate discriminant validity. As a demonstration of convergent and concurrent validity, the severity of psychiatric symptoms assessed by the General Health Questionnaire and psychosocial adjustment assessed by the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale correlated theoretically meaningfully with the different defense styles. The DSQ-40 appears to be a reliable and valid instrument for adolescents.

Adaption of pregnancy anxiety questionnaire–revised for all pregnant women regardless of parity: PRAQ-R2

The 10-item Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire–Revised (PRAQ-R) is a widely used instrument to assess and identify pregnancy-specific anxiety in nulliparous women. It has good psychometric values and predictive validity for birth and childhood outcomes. Nonetheless, the PRAQ-R is not designed for use in parous women, as particularly one item of the questionnaire is not relevant for women who gave birth before. We tested the factorial and scalar invariance of a modified PRAQ-R2 across nulliparous and parous women with an adapted item to fit both groups of pregnant women. A longitudinal study among 1144 pregnant women (n = 608 nulliparous and n = 536 parous) with two repeated measures of the PRAQ-R2 was used to test for measurement invariance of the instrument. Results show metric and scalar invariance, indicating that the PRAQ-R2 measures similar constructs on the same scale for all pregnant women at two different times during pregnancy. We conclude that the PRAQ-R2 can be used, compared, or combined in a sample of nulliparous and parous women.

Maternal prenatal stress and infant emotional reactivity six months postpartum

BACKGROUND Maternal prenatal stress has been related to infant negative affect. However, it is still unclear how different sources of maternal prenatal stress such as depressive, anxiety and pregnancy-specific anxiety symptoms are associated with reactivity outcomes. This study aimed to test the associations between different sources of maternal prenatal stress and the aspects of infant emotional reactivity at six months. METHOD Our study population (n=282) was drawn from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. Prenatal stress was measured by questionnaires on maternal depression, general anxiety and pregnancy-specific anxiety at three time points across pregnancy (gwk 14, 24, 34). Based on the symptom scores, the sample was divided into mothers with high stress during pregnancy (n=110) and mothers with low stress during pregnancy (n=172). Mother-reported infant emotional reactivity and its subscales were measured six months postpartum. RESULTS After controlling for background variables and maternal postnatal symptoms, overall negative emotional reactivity (β=0.20, p<0.01), and its aspects fearfulness (β=0.15, p=.057) and falling reactivity (β=-0.22, p<0.01), were predicted by only pregnancy-specific anxiety. No significant predictors were found for infant positive reactivity after adjusting for confounders. LIMITATIONS Mother reports of both maternal symptoms and infant reactivity were used, which might increase the risk of reporting bias. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that mothers experiencing stress should be provided intervention during pregnancy, and that screening should have a particular focus on pregnancy-related worries.

Alcohol use and psychiatric comorbid disorders predict deliberate self-harm behaviour and other suicidality among depressed adolescent outpatients in 1-year follow-up.

Background: Suicidality, including deliberate self-harm behaviour (DSH), represents one of the most adverse and clinically serious consequences of depression. More detailed longitudinal research is needed in order to find clinical risk factors of DSH and other suicidal behaviour among depressed adolescent outpatients in order to identify those at greatest risk of life-threatening behaviour. Aim: This follow-up study investigated alcohol use, Axis I comorbid disorders, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and psychosocial functioning as risk factors of suicidal behaviour, including DSH, among depressed adolescent outpatients during a 1-year follow-up. Methods: Consecutive depressed adolescent outpatients (n = 189) aged 13–19 years were interviewed at baseline and at follow-up by using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children—Present and Lifetime (K-SADS-PL) for DSM-IV Axis I diagnoses and self-report questionnaires. Suicidal behaviour was assessed by K-SADS suicidality items. Results: During 1-year follow-up, one-quarter of all participants, and almost three-quarters of suicidal adolescents had DSH. Alcohol use and mood disorder with Axis I comorbidity at baseline predicted both DSH and other suicidal behaviour during follow-up. Mood disorder during follow-up predicted all forms of suicidal behaviour. Conclusions: Detection and effective treatment of continuing mood disorder, comorbid disorders and alcohol use may significantly improve clinicians ability to identify adolescent outpatients at high risk of subsequent DSH and other suicidal behaviour. Treatment interventions should aim at full recovery of depression.