AUTHOR=Fernández-Sevillano Jessica , Alberich Susana , Zorrilla Iñaki , González-Ortega Itxaso , López María Purificación , Pérez Víctor , Vieta Eduard , González-Pinto Ana , Saíz Pilar 

TITLE=Cognition in Recent Suicide Attempts: Altered Executive Function

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.701140

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.701140

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Neuropsychological alterations can lead to inaccurate perception, interpretation, and response to environmental information, which could be a risk factor for suicide.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Ninety-six subjects were recruited from the Psychiatry Department of the Araba University Hospital—Santiago, including 20 patients with a recent attempt and diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) according to DSM-V, 33 MDD patients with history of attempted suicide, 23 non-attempter MDD patients, and 20 healthy controls. All participants underwent a clinical interview and neuropsychological assessment on the following cognitive domains: working memory, processing speed, decision-making, executive function, and attention. Backward multiple regressions were performed adjusting for significant confounding variables. For group comparisons, ANOVA and Bonferroni <italic>post-hoc</italic> tests were performed with a <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05 significance level.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The patient groups did not differ regarding severity of depression and stressful events in the last 6 months. In comparison to healthy controls, depressed patients with lifetime suicide attempts had more general trauma (<italic>p</italic> = 0.003), emotional abuse (<italic>p</italic> = 0.003), emotional negligence (<italic>p</italic> = 0.006), and physical negligence (<italic>p</italic> = 0.009), and depressed patients with recent suicide attempts had experienced more child sexual abuse (<italic>p</italic> = 0.038). Regarding neuropsychological assessment, all patient groups performed significantly worse than did healthy controls in processing speed, decision-making, and attention. Comparisons between patient groups indicated that recent suicide attempters had poorer performance on executive function in comparison to both depressed lifetime attempters and depressed non-attempters (<italic>B</italic> = 0.296, <italic>p</italic> = 0.019, and <italic>B</italic> = 0.301, <italic>p</italic> = 0.028, respectively). Besides, women with recent attempts had slightly better scores on executive function than males. Regarding the rest of the cognitive domains, there were no significant differences between groups.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Executive function performance is altered in recent suicide attempts. As impaired executive function can be risk factor for suicide, preventive interventions on suicide should focus on its assessment and rehabilitation.</p>