Sleep disturbance preceding completed suicide in adolescents

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Sleep Medicine
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Sleep disturbances are common in adolescents.
• The relationship between sleep problems and adolescent suicide requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine sleep difficulties preceding death in adolescent suicide completers compared to controls.
• To determine if sleep disturbances are an independent risk factor for adolescent suicide.

Main Methods:

• A psychological autopsy protocol was used to assess sleep disturbances in 140 adolescent suicide victims.
• A matched sample of 131 community control adolescents underwent a similar semistructured psychiatric interview.
• Rates of sleep disturbances were compared between suicide completers and controls.

Main Results:

• Suicide completers exhibited higher rates of overall sleep disturbance, insomnia, and hypersomnia compared to controls.
• These differences remained significant after controlling for affective disorder and depressive symptom severity.
• A higher proportion of completers, compared to controls, showed changes in sleep symptom severity in the week preceding suicide.

Conclusions:

• Sleep difficulties are significantly and temporally related to completed suicide in adolescents.
• Sleep problems are an important consideration in suicide prevention and intervention for at-risk adolescents.