IL-6 predicts non-suicidal self-injury over 3 months in high-risk adolescents

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 12- to 17-year-old adolescents in the USA. Research on biological mechanisms contributing to self-harm risk that could be targeted in treatment could help to prevent suicide and self-harm episodes.

We aimed to evaluate whether markers of inflammation, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP), predict self-harm over 3 months within a sample selected for elevated suicide/self-harm risk at project entry.

Fifty-one adolescents aged 12-19 years selected for elevated suicide/self-harm risk completed three clinical interviews about suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-injury, 3 months apart. At baseline and 3 months, youth also provided blood samples, from which we assayed levels of IL-6 and CRP.

Using generalised mixed models, we found that greater levels of IL-6 predicted more self-harm episodes (odds ratio [OR] = 3.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 10.0) and specifically, non-suicidal self-injury (OR = 3.5, 95% CI: 1.1, 11.2), over 3 months.

The study findings increase our understanding of whether and how inflammation may be implicated in risk of self-harm. IL-6 may be a viable biological marker of short-term risk for self-harm.