Risk for suicidal behavior two times greater in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Key takeaways:

• Researchers analyzed 28 studies that included 505,950 individuals with Parkinson’s disease.
• Data showed a high prevalence of suicidal ideation and behavior in this population.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies involving suicidality among patients with Parkinson’s disease found a high prevalence of suicidal ideation as well as a two times greater risk for suicidal behavior compared with controls.

“Late life suicide is an important global health issue and represents a preventable cause of death,” Aaron Shengting Mai, MS, a medical student at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, and colleagues wrote in JAMA Neurology. “An especially vulnerable group of patients are those with a chronic neurological disorder.”

Researchers aimed to address inconsistent results in previous studies of suicidal ideation and behavior in older adults with PD by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing literature.

They searched two databases, MEDLINE and Embase, from inception through June 14, 2023, as well as bibliographies of relevant studies, which yielded 28 original studies (15 cross-sectional, eight retrospective cohort, three case-control) that discussed themes of suicidal ideation, behavior or both among 505,950 individuals with PD.

Primary outcomes were prevalence of suicidal ideation and behavior measured as proportions and risk for suicidal behavior in patients with PD relative to controls.

According to results, the prevalence of suicidal ideation was 22.2% (95% CI, 14.6-32.3), based on 14 studies, while 1.25% (95% CI, 0.64-2.41) of patients in 21 studies had suicidal behavior.

Researchers also found a significantly greater prevalence of suicidal behavior in prospective studies (1.75%; 95% CI, 1.03-2.95) compared with retrospective studies (0.50%; 95% CI, 0.24-1.01), after excluding four outliers.

Further, the risk for suicidal behavior was two times greater in patients with PD (OR = 2.15; 95% CI, 1.22-3.78), according to a sensitivity analysis of 10 studies. Researchers also reported a statistically significant HR of 1.73 (95% CI, 1.40-2.14), based on nine studies.

“Early recognition and management of suicidality in PD can help reduce mortality and improve quality of life,” Mai and colleagues wrote.