Suicide Interventions for Youths: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Psychiatry
• Child and Adolescent Health

Background:

• Suicide is a critical public health issue among young people.
• There is an urgent need to evaluate effective treatments for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in at-risk youth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the effectiveness and harms of interventions for youths at heightened risk of suicide.
• To identify evidence gaps in current treatment approaches.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive systematic review of randomized clinical trials, comparative observational studies, and before-after studies.
• Searched multiple databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus) and gray literature from 2000 to 2024.
• Included studies on psychosocial, pharmacologic, neurotherapeutic, and emerging therapies for youths aged 5-24 with heightened suicide risk.

Main Results:

• Included 65 studies with over 14,500 participants, predominantly female.
• Dialectical behavior therapy demonstrated a moderate strength of evidence for reducing suicidal ideation.
• Other psychosocial interventions showed insufficient to low evidence; no studies reported adverse events.
• Evidence for pharmacologic treatments in this population was virtually nonexistent.

Conclusions:

• Current evidence for interventions targeting at-risk youth is uncertain.
• Medications, neurotherapeutics, and emerging therapies lack study in this demographic.
• Novel, trauma-informed, and multilevel interventions are crucial to address rising youth suicide risk.