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Increased risk of suicidal behavior among people with ADHD, relatives

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder increases the risk of attempted and completed suicide among those diagnosed and their family members, according to recent study findings published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Therese Ljung, PhD, and colleagues from the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, evaluated 51,707 people with ADHD and their relatives to determine whether genetic and environmental risk factors contribute to ADHD and suicidal behavior.

Overall, 33.6% of ADHD participants had a comorbid disorder. Poisoning and hanging were the most common methods of suicidal behavior among ADHD participants. Compared with controls, ADHD participants were also at increased risk for attempted (OR=8.46; 95% CI, 8.07-8.87) and completed suicide (OR=12.22; 95% CI, 8.67-17.22). The increased risk continued after adjusting for comorbid psychiatric disorders for attempted (OR=3.62; 95% CI, 3.29-3.98) and completed suicide (OR=5.91; 95% CI, 2.45-14.27).

Parents (OR=2.42; 95% CI, 2.36-2.49) and full siblings (OR=2.28; 95% CI, 2.17-2.4) of ADHD participants were also at increased risk of attempted suicide. Compared with control relatives, an increased risk of attempted suicide continued among half siblings and cousins of ADHD participants. Likewise, there was an increased risk of completed suicide among relatives of ADHD participants.

“We have found an increased risk of both completed and attempted suicide among relatives of individuals with ADHD,” the researchers wrote. “The pattern of familial risks suggests that this association is partly due to shared genetic factors. These findings represent an important first step toward identifying the underlying mechanisms for the risk of suicidal behavior in patients with ADHD and suggest that individuals with ADHD and their family members are important targets for suicide prevention and treatment.”

Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, and the Swedish Research Council.