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Published on: May 22, 2010
Suicidal Ideation in Spinocerebellar Ataxia
Levi Peppel1, Ruo-Yah Lai1, Christian Rummey1
1Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston (Peppel, Lin); Department of Neurology and Initiative of Columbia Ataxia and Tremor, Columbia University Medical Center, New York City (Lai, Amokrane, Kuo); Clinical Data Science GmbH, Basel, Switzerland (Rummey); Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago (Opal); Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston (Schmahmann); Department of Neurology, University of Chicago, Chicago (Gomez); Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Paulson, Srinivasan); Department of Neurology, University of South Florida, Tampa (Zesiewicz); Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles (Perlman); Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta (Wilmot); Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Ying, Onyike) and Neurology (Rosenthal), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (Bushara); Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco (Geschwind); Department of Neurology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (Figueroa, Pulst); Department of Neurology, University of Florida, Gainesville (Subramony, Burns); Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, University of Montreal, Montreal (Duquette); Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston (Ashizawa); Departments of Neurology, Ophthalmology, and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Hamedani); Department of Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle (Davis); National Ataxia Foundation, Minneapolis (Moore); Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas (Shakkottai).
Patients with spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) experience higher rates of suicidal ideation compared to the general population. This highlights the critical need for ongoing screening and effective depression management in SCA patients.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Psychiatry
- Genetics
Background:
- Suicidal ideation is understudied in spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs).
- SCAs are a group of genetically diverse neurodegenerative disorders affecting cerebellar function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prevalence of suicidal ideation in patients with SCAs.
- To identify factors associated with suicidal ideation in SCAs.
Main Methods:
- Compared suicidal ideation rates in 769 SCA patients with national data (NSDUH).
- Analyzed clinical factors including age, disease duration, ataxia severity, depression, and SCA subtype.
- Utilized logistic regression to assess odds ratios for suicidal ideation.
Main Results:
- 12% of SCA patients reported suicidal ideation versus 4.3% in the general population.
- SCA patients had 2.72 times higher odds of suicidal ideation.
- Longer disease duration, greater ataxia severity, and higher depression scores were linked to suicidal ideation.
Conclusions:
- Suicidal ideation is significantly more prevalent in SCA patients.
- Continuous suicidal risk screening is essential for individuals with SCAs.
- Effective management of depression is crucial for mitigating suicide risk in SCA.
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