Clinical Predictors of Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background Suicidal thoughts and attempts are closely linked to major depressive disorder (MDD), a prevalent and incapacitating mental illness.The severity of depression symptoms, past suicide behaviour, hopelessness, psychiatric comorbidities, psychosocial stressors, and other clinical variables all combine intricately to cause suicidal behaviour.In ordinary psychiatric practice, early detection of individuals at elevated risk continues to be a significant difficulty.The purpose of this study was to find clinical variables linked to suicidal thoughts and attempts among MDD patients.Methodology At Mayo Hospital Lahore facility's MDD patients participated in a hospital-based analytical cross-sectional study.A structured clinical proforma covering demographics, length and intensity of depression, past psychiatric history, past suicide attempts, family history of suicidal behaviour, psychotic symptoms, sleep disturbances, substance use, psychosocial stressors, treatment history, and psychiatric comorbidities was used to evaluate the participants.A validated suicide-risk assessment measure was used to gauge suicidal ideas and behaviour, while a standardised depression-rating instrument was used to gauge the severity of depression.Patients were divided into groups based on whether or not they had previously attempted suicide and had suicidal thoughts.While suitable comparison and regression analyses were carried out to find independent clinical predictors of suicidality, descriptive statistics were utilised to summarise participant characteristics.Statistical significance was defined as a p-value of less than 0.05. ResultCompared to patients without suicidal ideation, those with suicide ideation had noticeably more severe depressive symptoms and higher degrees of hopelessness.Patients with suicidal behaviour were more likely to have a history of past suicide attempts, recurrent depressive episodes, psychotic symptoms, substantial sleep disturbance, substance use, and recent psychosocial stresses.Suicidal thoughts and/or suicide attempts were found to be significantly predicted by prior suicide attempts, higher depression severity, hopelessness, psychotic symptoms, and substantial psychosocial stressors, according to multivariable analysis.Suicidal behaviour was significantly more common in patients with several clinical risk factors than in those without these traits.Conclusion Suicidal thoughts and attempts are closely linked to certain clinical traits in MDD patients.Patients who need more thorough suicide-risk evaluation and monitoring may be identified by their history of suicidal behaviour, severe depressive symptoms, hopelessness, psychotic symptoms, sleep disturbance, and psychosocial stressors.Regular evaluation of these variables need to be a crucial part of treating MDD patients.Early identification of high-risk clinical profiles may help improve suicide-prevention tactics and enable prompt psychiatric intervention. Key wordsDepression severity, hopelessness, psychotic depression, psychiatric comorbidity, psychosocial stressors, major depressive illness, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, suicide risk, and clinical predictors.
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7223278928