“Our results show subtle alterations in the size of the frontal pole, a prefrontal region, in this first sample of young people, and suggest that these associations may be absent or more difficult to identify in more diverse samples. Next, we were able to look at larger and more diverse samples in terms of type of diagnosis and the instruments which were used to assess suicidal thoughts and behaviors. “We started with data from a smaller group of young people with mood disorders for whom very detailed information about suicide was available. “Benefitting from the large dataset that we had available, we were able to perform analyses in multiple subsamples,” detailed Laura van Velzen, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne and first author on the study. “Suicidal behaviors occur across many mental illnesses, so instead of focusing on a single illness in small samples, we pulled together researchers who had data on suicidal behaviors in young people and coordinated a large-scale team science initiative to compare data across the disorders, here, with a focus on youth,” said Jahanshad. “Along with my colleagues at the Stevens INI, an international team of neuroscientists, psychologists, and psychiatrists came together under the ENIGMA Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors (ENIGMA-STB) working group , a National Institute of Mental Health-funded part of the ENIGMA Consortium, in order to pool together the amount of data this type of study requires. The study was recently published in Molecular Psychiatry. Tragically, the number of suicide attempts among children and adolescents has continued to increase despite national and international prevention efforts.Ĭollaborative research where specialists all over the world work together is needed to advance our understanding of the complex nature of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and ultimately, to develop better interventions and preventions.Ī new study by a global team of researchers including Neda Jahanshad, PhD, of the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI), has revealed subtle alterations in the size of the brain’s prefrontal region in young people with mood disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States for young people from the age of 10 up to 33. Summary: Neuroimaging study reveals subtle size differences in the prefrontal region of the brain in young people with major depressive disorders and suicidal behaviors.
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