Citation

Weiser M, Fenchel D, Werbeloff N, Goldberg S, Fruchter E, Reichenberg A, Burshtein S, Large M, Davidson M, Lubin G. Eur. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016; 27(1): 1-7.

Affiliation

Jerusalem Mental Health Center, Kfar Shaul Psychiatric Hospital, Israeli Ministry of Health, Israel.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.11.015

PMID

27914751

Abstract

Previous studies have found associations between low cognitive ability and later completed suicide. The aim of this study was to examine the association between cognitive ability and social functioning in adolescence, and later completed suicide in a large population-based longitudinal study. Data from the Israeli Draft Board Register for 634,655 Israeli male adolescents aged 16 and 17 was linked to a causes-of-death data registry, with a mean follow-up of 10.6 years for completed suicide. Our results show that in males without a psychiatric diagnosis, both low (adjusted HR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.19-1.92) and high (adjusted HR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.04-1.77) cognitive ability, and very poor (adjusted HR=2.30, 95% CI: 1.34-3.95) and poor (adjusted HR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.34-2.07) social functioning were associated with increased risk for later completed suicide; however positive predictive values were low (PPVs=0.09% and 0.10%, for low cognitive ability and very poor or poor social functioning, respectively). No association between cognitive ability or social functioning and risk for suicide was found in males with a psychiatric diagnosis. These data do not support the clinical utility of screening for such potential predictors.

Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Language: en