When children under 12 commit suicide, they are more likely to have a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder than depression, a U.S. study suggests.
“Although suicide is extremely rare in elementary school-aged children, a child can and sometimes will think about and even attempt suicide,” said senior study author Dr. Jeffrey Bridge of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
The findings suggest that suicide prevention efforts may need to include a focus on behavior even before children appear suicidal, Bridge added by email.
“This approach has incredible potential to reduce suicide rates in young people,” Bridge said.
In 17 states from 2003 to 2012, researchers compared 87 suicides in kids ages 5 to 11 to 606 suicides in adolescents aged 12 to 14.
About one third in each group had a diagnosed mental health problem, researchers report in the journal Pediatrics.
Roughly 59 percent of the young kids in the study with a mental health diagnosis had attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity, compared with 29 percent of the teens… Read More>>
Source: Reuters
