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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Mood Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1424103

Gender Differences in Risk Factors for Suicide Attempts among Young, First-Episode and Drug-Naive Major Depressive Disorder Patients with Anxiety Symptoms

Provisionally accepted
Donghong Jiang Donghong Jiang 1XiaoE Lang XiaoE Lang 2Dongmei Wang Dongmei Wang 3Xiang Y. Zhang Xiang Y. Zhang 2,4*
  • 1 School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
  • 2 Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 3 Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
  • 4 Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Suicide attempts and anxiety are common commodities in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and suicide attempts are often associated with anxiety symptoms.Studies have found gender differences in several aspects of MDD; however, gender differences in suicide attempts in young first-episode and drug-naive (FEDN) MDD patients with anxiety remain unknown. This study aimed to investigate potential gender differences in the prevalence of suicide attempts and associated risk factors among young FEDN MDD patients with anxiety in a Chinese Han population.A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1289 young patients with FEDN MDD. Demographics, clinical characteristics, and biochemical parameters of patients were collected.Results: Suicide attempters accounted for 23.80% and 26.12% of male and female FEDN MDD patients with anxiety, respectively, with no significant gender differences. Binary logistic regression analyses showed that anxiety, clinical global impression severity, and thyroid peroxidase antibody significantly predicted suicide attempts in both male and female FEDN MDD patients with anxiety, while body mass index significantly predicted suicide attempts only in males, and psychotic symptoms predicted suicide attempts only in females.The present study represents the first large-scale investigation of gender differences in the prevalence of suicide attempts and related risk factors among young FEND MDD patients with anxiety in the Chinese Han population. The results indicate that risk factors associated with suicide attempts vary by gender among young FEND MDD patients with anxiety, although a comparable rate of suicide attempts was observed in both female and male patients.

    Keywords: gender differences, suicide attempts, Major Depressive Disorder, Comorbid anxiety with major depressive disorder, Young

    Received: 27 Apr 2024; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jiang, Lang, Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiang Y. Zhang, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100101, Beijing Municipality, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.