Associations Between Genetic Risk for Adult Suicide Attempt and Suicidal Behaviors in Young Children in the US

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Suicide rates have been increasing among youth in the US. While the heritability of suicide risk is well established, there is limited understanding of how genetic risk is associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young children.OBJECTIVE To examine whether genetic susceptibility to suicide attempts (SAs) is associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis case-control study examined data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a population-based longitudinal study of 11 878 US children enrolled at age 9 and 10 years from September 2016 to November 2018. Youth reports of suicidal ideation (SI) and SAs were obtained from the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia at baseline and 2 subsequent years. After conservative quality control of genotype data, this analysis focused on 4344 unrelated individuals of European ancestry. Data analysis was conducted from November 2020 to February 2022. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESChildren's lifetime experiences of SI and SAs were assessed each year from ages 9 to 10 years to ages 11 to 12 years. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for SAs were calculated for ABCD study participants based on the largest genome-wide association study of SA cases and controls of European ancestry (total sample n = 518 612). RESULTSOf 4344 children of European ancestry (2045 [47.08%] female; mean [SD] age, 9.93 [0.62] years), significant associations were found between children's SA PRSs and their lifetime SAs with the most robust association in the follow-up year 2 (odds ratio, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.18-1.75]; corrected P = 1.85 × 10 −3 ; Nagelkerke pseudo R 2 = 1.51%). These associations remained significant after accounting for children's sociodemographic backgrounds, psychopathology symptoms, parental histories of suicide and mental health, and PRSs for major depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (likelihood ratio test P < .05). Children's depressive mood and aggressive behavior were the most significant partial mediators of SA genetic risk on SAs (mediation analysis P < 1 × 10 −16 ). Children's behavioral problems, such as attention problems, rule-breaking behavior, and social problems, also partially mediated the association of SA PRSs with SAs (mediation analysis false discover rate < 0.05).CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This study's findings indicate that there may be genetic factors associated with SA risk across the life span and suggest behaviors and conditions through which the risk could be mediated in childhood. Further research is warranted to examine whether incorporating genetic data could improve the identification of children at risk for suicide.

Suicidal Thoughts and Trajectories of Psychopathological and Behavioral Symptoms in Adolescence

“…Future studies with more time points could reveal more complex trajectories. Second, we did not evaluate some important variables such as genetics, adverse childhood experiences, and information about social gender . Furthermore, the confounders were evaluated at age 10 years, thus the time-varying effects of the confounders remained unclear.…”

Association between Asthma and Suicidality in 9–12-Year-Old Youths

“…We studied the association between asthma and suicidality using all available data from the ABCD Study that included three assessment waves from age 9 to 12. To address the inconsistency of suicidality reporting across time points ( Supplementary Table S1 ) [ 26 ], we created “ever” variables for both the exposure (i.e., asthma measures) and suicidality measures (dependent variables), which is in line with prior work in this population [ 27 ].…”

Genetic, environmental, and behavioral correlates of lifetime suicide attempt: Analysis of additive and interactive effects in two cohorts of US Army soldiers

“…Emerging evidence supports this supposition, with initial studies showing that SA-PRS differentiate suicide attempt cases versus controls among adults with mood disorders and schizophrenia [ 12 ]. SA-PRS have also been shown to predict suicide attempt among children and adolescents, independent of effects of other risk factors such as other psychiatric polygenic risk scores (PRS), family history of suicidal behavior, and measures of temperament and psychopathology [ 16 , 17 ].…”