Clinical and Neuropsychological Features of Suicide Attempters in Tehran, Iran: A Comparative Study

Identifying suicide risk factors and understanding the variations among different clinical groups can play a crucial role in preventing suicide. The objective of this study is to examine the distinctions in clinical and neuropsychological features among suicidal attempters, who have attempted in the last four weeks.

The design of the study was a case-control study. This study consisted of 62 participants who were assigned to the suicide attempters group (SA+MDD), non-suicidal depressed group (MDD), and healthy control group (HC). Clinical and neuropsychological evaluations were conducted for all participants. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the normality of distribution. To compare the quantitative variables among the three groups, we employed Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Kruskal-Wallis. Post hoc analysis was conducted using Dunnett's test. A correlation analysis was conducted between clinical and neuropsychological variables.

The results showed that there was no significant difference in neuropsychological functions among the three groups except Scaled Score Similarities (P=0.007). However, there were significant mean differences observed across the SA+MDD and HC groups for BHS (P<0.001), SSI (P<0.001), RFL (P<0.001), BPAQ (P=0.037), Anxiety-springer-1 (P<0.001), Anxiety-springer-2 (P<0.001), and BDI (P<0.001). Specifically, this difference was significant just for SSI (P<0.001), and RFL (P<0.001) when comparing the SA+MDD and MDD groups. Some significant correlations were seen between clinical and neuropsychological features among suicide attempters. Among neuropsychological features, Motor screening with BIS (P<0.001), Gambling test with SIS (P=0.04), Digit span with BPAQ (P=0.04), anxiety-springer-1 (P=0.07), and BDI (P=0.005), arithmetic task with SIS (P=0.004), BPAQ (P=0.004), anxiety-springer-1 (P=0.03), and anxiety-springer-2 (P=0.008), block design task with SIS (P=0.002), and BPAQ (P=0.03), Rapid Visual Information with BIS (P=0.01), anxiety-springer-2 (P=0.04), and BDI (P=0.003), digital symbol task with BIS (P=0.02), and BDI (P=0.008), and the Picture Completion task with BHS (P= 0.04), had more negative/positive correlation with clinical features.

Some clinical features such as hopelessness should be deemed serious among individuals with suicide attempt particularly among those who were discharged recently. neuropsychological findings revealed functional disturbances in the frontal, parietal and temporal areas of the subjects who are at risk of suicide attempt. The findings can inform the design and implementation of suicide prevention programs. Targeted interventions can be developed to address the identified risk factors and protective factors associated with suicide, such as increasing reasons for living, improving social connectedness, and building resilience.