Children's cognitive performance and suicide risk through middle adulthood

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Longitudinal studies link lower adolescent and early adulthood cognitive performance to increased adult suicide risk.
• Research on cognitive vulnerability to suicide in childhood is limited and shows inconsistent findings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between childhood cognitive performance and later suicide mortality.
• To determine if cognitive vulnerability to suicide originates in early childhood.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 49,853 individuals in the Collaborative Perinatal Project cohort (born 1959-1966).
• Linked cohort data to the National Death Index for vital status up to 2016.
• Employed Cox proportional hazard models to assess intelligence and academic skills at ages 4 and 7 in relation to suicide death (ICD-9/10).
• Adjusted for sociodemographic and prenatal factors.

Main Results:

• Childhood cognitive performance, particularly verbal intelligence and academic skills at age 7, was associated with increased suicide risk.
• Verbal intelligence and reading skills showed significant associations (HRs ranging from 1.97 to 2.02) before adjustments.
• Associations remained significant after adjusting for sociodemographic and prenatal factors, though hazard ratios were attenuated.

Conclusions:

• Childhood neurocognitive performance is associated with vulnerability to suicide mortality into middle adulthood.
• Findings suggest a potential cognitive diathesis for suicide originating in early childhood.
• Further research should explore how various childhood cognitive domains contribute to suicide risk and its interplay with social/environmental factors.