Journal of Depression and Anxiety
Open Access

Abstract

Risk of Suicide in Adolescents with Symptoms of Eating Disorders and Depression

Juliana Lourenço-De Araújo Veras, Rosana Christine Cavalcanti Ximenes, Flávia Maria Nassar De Vasconcelos and Everton Botelho Sougey

Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the risk of suicide in adolescents with symptoms of eating disorders and depression.

Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted with 1379 students of public schools aged 10 to 17 years. The following evaluation tools were employed: A socio-demographic questionnaire, Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), Bulimic Investigatory Test of Edinburgh (BITE), Children’s depression inventory (CDI) and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I. – Brazilian version 5.0.0). Data analysis involved one-dimensional and two-dimensional tables with absolute and relative frequencies as well as the calculation of odds ratios (OR) and respective 95% confidence intervals associated with the levels described using Pearson’s chi-square test. In the multivariate analysis, a binary logistic regression model was adjusted, including variables with a p-value <0.05 in the binary analysis as possible explanatory variables.

Results: Through the ORs, it was estimated that the probability of an adolescent in the population analysed of being at risk of suicide was higher when the adolescent was older than 11 years, of the female gender, had symptoms of an eating disorder and had depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: The risk of suicide is not restricted to clinical samples of adolescents with eating disorders, but can also be detected in non-clinical samples. Moreover, the risk is higher among adolescents with symptoms of both eating disorders and depression.