No abstract

The objective of this investigation was to examine suicidal ideation and depression in undergraduate college students who participated in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention-sponsored College Screening Project at Emory University. The principal measure of depressive symptoms was the nine-item depression module from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Additional questions were focused on current suicidal ideation, past suicide attempts, and episodes of deliberate self-harm and on symptoms of anxiety and distress. Seven hundred and twenty-nine students participated over a 3-school-year interval (2002-2005). Most notably, 11.1% of the students endorsed current (past 4 weeks) suicidal ideation and 16.5% had a lifetime suicide attempt or self-injurious episode. Students with current suicidal ideation had significantly higher depression symptom severity than those without suicidal ideation (t = -9.34, df = 706, P<.0001, d = 1.9), and 28.5% of the students with PHQ-9 scores of 15 or higher reported suicidal ideation compared to 5.7% of those with lower scores (chi(2) = 56.29, df = 1, P<.0001, two-tailed). Suicidal ideation was prominently associated with symptoms of desperation (odds ratio 2.6, 95% CI 1.5-4.6, P<.001). The vast majority of students with moderately severe to severe depression (85%) or current suicidal ideation (84%) were not receiving any psychiatric treatment at the time of assessment. These results suggest that there is a strong relationship between severity of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in college students, and that suicidal feelings and actions are relatively common in this group. This underscores the need to provide effective mental health outreach and treatment services to this vulnerable population. As this analysis was based on data collected at a single institution, the results may not be representative of all college students or young adults.

Background Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of subcallosal cingulate white matter (SCC) is an evolving investigational treatment for major depression. Mechanisms of action are hypothesized to involve modulation of activity within a structurally defined network of brain regions involved in mood regulation. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to model white matter connections within this network to identify those critical for successful antidepressant response to SCC DBS. Methods Pre-operative high-resolution MRI data, including DTI, were acquired in 16 patients with treatment-resistant depression who then received SCC DBS. Computerized tomography was used post-operatively to locate DBS contacts. The activation volume around the active contacts used for chronic stimulation was modeled for each patient retrospectively. Probabilistic tractography was used to delineate the white matter tracts that traveled through each activation volume. Patient-specific tract maps were calculated using whole-brain analysis. Clinical evaluations of therapeutic outcome from SCC DBS were defined at 6 months and 2 years. Results Whole brain activation volume tractography (AVT) demonstrated that all DBS responders at six months (n=6) and 2 years (n=12) shared bilateral pathways from their activation volumes to (1) medial frontal cortex via forceps minor and uncinate fasciculus, (2) rostral and dorsal cingulate cortex via the cingulum bundle, and (3) subcortical nuclei. Non-responders did not consistently show these connections. Specific anatomical coordinates of the active contacts did not discriminate responders from non-responders. Conclusions Patient-specific AVT modeling may identify critical tracts that mediate SCC DBS antidepressant response. This suggests a novel method for patient-specific target and stimulation parameter selection.

Target identification and contact selection are known contributors to variability in efficacy across different clinical indications of deep brain stimulation surgery. A retrospective analysis of responders to subcallosal cingulate deep brain stimulation (SCC DBS) for depression demonstrated the common impact of the electrical stimulation on a stereotypic connectome of converging white matter bundles (forceps minor, uncinate fasciculus, cingulum and fronto-striatal fibers). To test the utility of a prospective connectomic approach for SCC DBS surgery, this pilot study used the four-bundle tractography “connectome blueprint” to plan surgical targeting in eleven participants with treatment-resistant depression. Before surgery, targets were selected individually using deterministic tractography. Selection of contacts for chronic stimulation was made by matching the postoperative probabilistic tractography map to the presurgical deterministic tractography map for each subject. Intraoperative behavioral responses were used as a secondary verification of location. A probabilistic tract map of all participants demonstrated inclusion of the four bundles as intended, matching the connectome blueprint previously defined. Eight of 11 patients (72.7%) were responders and 5 were remitters after 6 months of open-label stimulation. At one year, nine of 11 patients (81.8%) were responders, with six of them in remission. These results support the utility of a group probabilistic tractography map as a connectome blueprint for individualized, patient-specific, deterministic tractography targeting, confirming retrospective findings previously published. This new method represents a connectomic approach to guide future SCC DBS studies.

The method has considerable promise for encouraging previously untreated, at-risk college students to get help.