Cognitive impairment and factors influencing depression in adolescents with suicidal and self-injury behaviors: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMC psychiatry 2023-04, Vol.23 (1), p.247-247, Article 247
• Main Authors: Chen, Hong, Hong, Lan, Tong, Siyu, Li, Mengjia, Sun, Shiyu, Xu, Yao, Liu, Jie, Feng, Tianqi, Li, Yuting, Lin, Guangyao, Lu, Fanfan, Cai, Qiaole, Xu, Dongwu, Zhao, Ke, Zheng, Tiansheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Care and treatment; Child; Cognition; Cognition disorders; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - complications; Complications and side effects; Correlation analysis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Decision making; Depression; Depression - complications; Depression - psychology; Depression, Mental; Diagnosis; Executive function; Guardians; Humans; Medical research; Memory; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Neurocognitive function; Neuropsychology; NSSI; Personality; Personality traits; Prevention; Psychiatrists; Psychiatry; Public health; Risk Factors; Rumination; Self destructive behavior; Self-Injurious Behavior - psychology; Self-injury; Short term memory; Suicidal behavior; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide; Suicide attempts; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Suicides & suicide attempts; Teenagers
• ISSN: 1471-244X; 1471-244X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12888-023-04726-8

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts (SAs) by adolescent patients with depression have become serious public health problems. There is still insufficient research evidence on the effects of NSSI and SAs on neurocognitive functioning in adolescents. Cognitive function alterations may be associated with SAs and self-injury. NSSI and SAs have different influencing factors. Participants were recruited from outpatient clinics and included 142 adolescent patients with depression (12-18 years old). This cohort included the SAs group (n = 52), NSSI group (n = 65), and depression without SAs/NSSI control group (n = 25). All participants underwent a clinical interview and neuropsychological assessment for group comparisons, and post-hoc tests were performed. Finally, partial correlation analysis was used to explore factors related to changes in cognitive function. The SAs group performed significantly worse than the control group in executive function and working memory. The depression score was directly proportional to the executive function of the SAs group, whereas cognitive functioning in the NSSI group was associated with borderline traits and rumination. These findings suggest that impairment of executive function and working memory may be a common pattern in adolescent depressed patients with SAs. However, borderline traits and rumination may be indicative of NSSI but not SAs.