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. 2025 Aug 8;25(1):776.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-025-07163-x.

Prevalence and correlates of suicide attempts in working-age, first-episode, drug-naïve major depressive disorder patients

Liyan Wang  1 , Qinfeng Xiao  2 , Changwei Hu  3 , Maoxian Yang  4 , Xiangyang Zhang  5
Affiliations

Prevalence and correlates of suicide attempts in working-age, first-episode, drug-naïve major depressive disorder patients

Liyan Wang et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Suicide attempts are a critical concern among first-episode, drug-naïve (FEDN) patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence and correlates of suicide attempts in 1,701 working-age Chinese adults (18-59 years) with FEDN MDD. Sociodemographic data, clinical assessments, and biochemical data were obtained. Overall, 20.2% of participants reported lifetime suicide attempts. Multiple logistic regression identified four independent correlates: Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), clinical global impression of severity scale (CGI-s), systolic blood pressure, and thyroid peroxidase antibody levels. Additional analysis revealed significant pro-atherogenic lipid profile alterations in suicide attempters. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis highlighted the high discriminative ability of HAMA and CGI-s for identifying suicide attempts. These findings underscore the importance of integrating psychological, cardiovascular, and metabolic markers in routine suicide risk evaluation for working-age FEDN MDD patients. Incorporating anxiety, blood pressure, lipid metabolism, and thyroid autoantibody assessment may enhance early detection and inform targeted interventions.

Keywords: Anxiety; Major depressive disorder; Suicide; Systolic blood pressure; Working-age.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All of the methods were done in accordance with the National Institute of Health’s Declaration of Helsinki. The research was approved for clearance by the First Affiliated Hospital of Shanxi Medical University’s Institutional Review Board (No. 2016-Y27). For this study, informed consent was obtained from all subjects and/or their legal guardians. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of clinical and biochemical markers for identifying suicide attempts in MDD patients Note: MDD, major depressive disorder; HAMA, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale; CGI-s, Clinical Global Impression–Severity scale; SBP, systolic blood pressure; TPOAb, thyroid peroxidase antibody; AUC, Area Under the Curve
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