Investigating associations of childhood abuse and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels with suicidal behaviours in patients with depressive disorders

Background The role of childhood abuse and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in suicidal behaviour is controversial. Aims We aimed to investigate the individual and interactive effects of the childhood abuse and serum BDNF on suicidal behaviour before and after pharmacologic treatment in patients with depressive disorders. Method At baseline, reported childhood emotional, physical and sexual abuse were ascertained and serum BDNF levels were measured in 1094 patients with depressive disorder, 884 of whom were followed during a 1-year period of stepwise pharmacotherapy. Suicidal behaviours evaluated at baseline were previous suicide attempt and baseline suicide severity, and suicidal behaviours evaluated at follow-up were increased suicide severity and fatal/non-fatal suicide attempt. Individual and interactive associations of any childhood abuse and serum BDNF levels with four types of suicidal behaviours were analysed using logistic regression models, after adjusting relevant covariates. Results Individual associations of childhood abuse were significant only with previous suicide attempt, and no significant individual associations were found for serum BDNF with any suicide outcome. However, the presence of both childhood abuse and lower serum BDNF levels was associated with the highest prevalence/incidence of all four suicidal behaviours, with significant interactions for baseline suicide severity and fatal/non-fatal suicide attempt during follow-up. Conclusions Synergistic interactive effects of child abuse and serum BDNF levels on suicidal behaviours were found before and after pharmacologic treatment in patients with depressive disorders. Information combining childhood abuse and serum BDNF levels could improve predictions of suicidal behaviour in patients with depressive disorders.

[1]  Zhijun Zhang,et al.  Value of peripheral neurotrophin levels for the diagnosis of depression and response to treatment: A systematic review and meta-analysis , 2020, European Neuropsychopharmacology.

[2]  R. Stewart,et al.  Short and long-term treatment outcomes of stepwise psychopharmacotherapy based on early clinical decision in patients with depressive disorders. , 2020, Journal of affective disorders.

[3]  M. Naghavi.  Global, regional, and national burden of suicide mortality 1990 to 2016: systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 , 2019, BMJ.

[4]  Sung-Wan Kim,et al.  The MAKE Biomarker Discovery for Enhancing anTidepressant Treatment Effect and Response (MAKE BETTER) Study: Design and Methodology , 2018, Psychiatry investigation.

[5]  W. Yeo,et al.  Early life sexual abuse is associated with increased suicide attempts: An update meta-analysis. , 2018, Journal of psychiatric research.

[6]  J. Mann,et al.  Biomarkers of Suicide Attempt Behavior: Towards a Biological Model of Risk , 2017, Current Psychiatry Reports.

[7]  C. Björkenstam,et al.  Childhood adversity and risk of suicide: cohort study of 548 721 adolescents and young adults in Sweden , 2017, British Medical Journal.

[8]  B. Penninx,et al.  Effect of childhood maltreatment and brain-derived neurotrophic factor on brain morphology , 2016, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[9]  L. Williams,et al.  Childhood trauma predicts antidepressant response in adults with major depression: data from the randomized international study to predict optimized treatment for depression , 2016, Translational psychiatry.

[10]  L. Minuzzi,et al.  Exploring the Association between Serum BDNF and Attempted Suicide , 2016, Scientific Reports.

[11]  R. Porter,et al.  Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists clinical practice guidelines for mood disorders , 2015, The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry.

[12]  P. Chamberlain,et al.  Suicidal Behavior Outcomes of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Longitudinal Study of Adjudicated Girls. , 2015, Suicide & life-threatening behavior.

[13]  R. Murray,et al.  Brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) is associated with childhood abuse but not cognitive domains in first episode psychosis , 2014, Schizophrenia Research.

[14]  M. Mihanović,et al.  Brain-derived neurotrophic factor as a suicide factor in mental disorders , 2013, Acta Neuropsychiatrica.

[15]  A. Ghosh,et al.  Decreased mRNA and Protein Expression of BDNF, NGF, and their Receptors in the Hippocampus from Suicide: An Analysis in Human Postmortem Brain , 2013, Clinical medicine insights. Pathology.

[16]  David R. Williams,et al.  Childhood adversities as risk factors for onset and persistence of suicidal behaviour , 2010, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[17]  Yogesh K. Dwivedi.  Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and suicide pathogenesis , 2010, Annals of medicine.

[18]  F. Zitman,et al.  Childhood life events and childhood trauma in adult patients with depressive, anxiety and comorbid disorders vs. controls , 2009, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[19]  R. Tremblay,et al.  Predicting suicide attempts in young adults with histories of childhood abuse , 2008, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[20]  M. Leboyer,et al.  Interaction between BDNF Val66Met and childhood trauma on adult’s violent suicide attempt , 2008, Genes, brain, and behavior.

[21]  M. Oquendo,et al.  Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment (C-CASA): classification of suicidal events in the FDA's pediatric suicidal risk analysis of antidepressants. , 2007, The American journal of psychiatry.

[22]  Changsu Han,et al.  Low plasma BDNF is associated with suicidal behavior in major depression , 2007, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[23]  Y. Hacımusalar,et al.  Neurobiology of suicidal behaviour , 2003, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[24]  R. Snaith,et al.  The Hospital Anxiety And Depression Scale , 2003, Health and quality of life outcomes.

[25]  M. Schwald,et al.  Postnatal developmental profile of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in rat brain and platelets , 2002, Neuroscience Letters.

[26]  A. Rasmusson,et al.  Downregulation of BDNF mRNA in the Hippocampal Dentate Gyrus after Re-exposure to Cues Previously Associated with Footshock , 2002, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[27]  F. Smit,et al.  Risk factors for 12-month comorbidity of mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders: findings from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study. , 2002, The American journal of psychiatry.

[28]  O. Aasland,et al.  Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption--II. , 1993, Addiction.

[29]  J. Pacheco,et al.  Suicide , 1968, Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures.

[30]  J. Overall,et al.  The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale , 1962 .

[31]  M. Hamilton.  A RATING SCALE FOR DEPRESSION , 1960, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[32]  S. Nikfar,et al.  Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) , 2014 .

[33]  D. Sheehan,et al.  The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): the development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. , 1998, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.