Temperaments in psychotic and major affective disorders

Assessment of affective temperaments with the extensively validated, 110-item TEMPS-A autoquestionnaire has been used to characterize patients with mood disorders, and its scores have been associated consistently with suicidal behavior. Much less has been reported about comparisons of characteristics of such assessments in psychotic and other psychiatric disorders.

We analyzed results of TEMPS-A assessments in 1081 psychiatrically hospitalized patients in Rome and compared subscale scores (anxious [anx], cyclothymic [cyc], depressive [dep], irritable [irr], hyperthymic [hyp]) and a composite score (anx+cyc+dep+irr - hyp) among diagnoses and subjects with vs. without a suicide attempt.

TEMPS-A subscale scores differed significantly among diagnoses and were higher with major affective than psychotic or other disorders. Suicide attempts were 1.5-times more frequent among women than men and with affective versus nonaffective disorders, ranking: bipolar-II > major depression > bipolar-I > other disorders > psychotic disorders. TEMPS-A subscores were significantly higher among suicidal subjects (ranking: anx ≥ cyc ≥ dep > irr) except hyp (lower), but the composite score differed most (1.37-fold higher). Multivariable logistic regression modeling indicated that suicide attempt was significantly and independently associated with: TEMPS-A composite score > female sex > affective disorder > older age.

TEMPS-A scores, particularly a composite score (anx+cyc+dep+irr - hyp) may help effectively evaluate suicidal risk in association with nonaffective as well as affective disorders.