Citation

Koyama E, Zai CC, Bryushkova L, Kennedy JL, Beitchman JH. Psychiatry Res. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 80 Workman Way Room 5218, Toronto, Ontario M6J 1H4, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: Joe.Beitchman@camh.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2019.112726

PMID

31870620

Abstract

Childhood traumatic experiences and impulsive aggression are strong predictors of suicide ideation in youth.  This study examines whether a gene panel previously associated with impulsive aggression, together with a measure of traumatic experience, will predict suicidal ideation in youth. The sample consisted of 158 youth (ages 9-17 years) of European ancestry that participated in a case-control study for childhood aggression.  The Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument (MAYSI-2) was used to examine suicide ideation and traumatic experiences. The impulsive aggression gene panel consists of 5 markers across 5 susceptibility genes (CRH, CRHR2, MC2R, OXTR, BDNF). A multi-gene risk score (MRS) for each individual was calculated by taking the total number of risk genotypes for that person. The covariates for the multiple regression model included sex, age, symptoms of anxiety/depression, MRS, traumatic experiences, and MRS x traumatic experience interaction.

RESULTS show the MRS x traumatic experience interaction term and the anxious/depressed symptoms to be significant predictors of suicide ideation in the full model. Importantly, genetic susceptibility to impulsive aggression and traumatic experiences remained a significant predictor for suicide ideation over and above the youth's level of anxiety and depression. This finding may have important implications for early intervention for youth suicide-related behaviors.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; Adverse childhood experiences; Aggression; Human genetics; Suicide