Difference in the prevalence of non-fatal suicidal behaviours in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression in China: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Difference in the prevalence of non-fatal suicidal behaviours in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression in China is rarely reported. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine this difference. Major Chinese and English literature databases were searched online to collect studies comparing the prevalence of non-fatal suicidal behaviours of patients with unipolar and bipolar depression. The quality of the included studies was assessed according to the matching principle. Risk difference (RD) of prevalence rates of non-fatal suicidal behaviours between patients with unipolar and bipolar depression was calculated. A total of 16 studies, containing 1678 cases with unipolar depression and 1069 cases with bipolar depression, were included. Differences in rates of suicidal ideation and attempt were not statistically significant between patients with unipolar and bipolar depression, but rates of overall non-fatal suicidal behaviours in patients with unipolar depression was significantly higher than those with bipolar depression (RD: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.36). In summary, the rate of overall non-fatal suicidal behaviours of patients with unipolar depression is higher than that of patients with bipolar depression in China.

The Association between Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and the Number of Suicide Attempts among Male Young Adults with Unipolar and Bipolar Depression

“…Therefore, since underlying ADHD symptoms are associated with suicide risk, we speculate that ADHD patients who also had bipolar depression may have been more vulnerable to suicide attempts. Recent meta-analytic findings suggest that the rate of suicide attempts does not differ significantly between patients with unipolar and bipolar depression [29]. Similarly, in this study, there was no significant difference in the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the two groups (e.g., the severity of depressive symptoms, ADHD symptom levels, the number of suicide attempts, the severity of suicide risk).…”