Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the correlates of suicidal and death ideation and suicide attempts in patients with parkinson’s disease.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, disabling illness affecting the elderly and is associated with psychiatric or cognitive disorders, like depression, psychosis and dementia.(1) At the moment little is known about the prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation and suicide in patients with parkinson’s disease.

Methods: To 109 consecutive PD patients was administered a modified version of the Paykel Scale to assess suicidal and death ideation, Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology to measure the severity of depression, cognitive status was assessed with the MMSE, and psychosis with the Parkinson’s Psychosis Rating Scale (PPRS). Severity of PD was assessed with the Unified Parkinson’s disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and motor score with the Hoehn and Yahr Scale. Patients provided the information about demographic, suicide attempts and clinical characteristics during a semi-structured clinical interview. Univariate and multivariate logistic regresion models were used to determine the correlates of suicide and suicidal ideation.

Results: Suicide ideation (12%) or death ideation (28%) were present at 31% of the PD patients, but only 6 subjects (5.5%) reported a suicide attempt. The univariate logistic regression analysis showed that severity of depressive symptoms (p<0.001), presence of psychosis (p=0.04), a history of impulse control disorder behaviors (p=0.002) were associated with the presence of death or suicidal ideation. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that only increasing severity of depressive symptoms (p < 0.001) predicted either ideation.

Conclusions: One-third of PD patients have suicidal or death ideation and 5% reported a suicide attempt, that may significantly influence their quality of life. Comorbid psychiatric disorders are associated with the presence of death or suicidal ideation, underlining the need for a comprehensive clinical care of PD patients.

References: 1.Weintraub D, Stern MB. Psychiatric complications in Parkinson’s disease. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2005; 13:844-851.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/suicide-attempts-suicidal-and-death-ideation-in-parkinsons-disease/