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Annals of General Psychiatry
Published in: Annals of General Psychiatry 1/2020

Open Access 01-12-2020 | Suicide | Primary research

Gray matter volume alterations associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in patients with mood disorders

Authors: Pengshuo Wang, Ran Zhang, Xiaowei Jiang, Shengnan Wei, Fei Wang, Yanqing Tang

Published in: Annals of General Psychiatry | Issue 1/2020

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Abstract

Background

Mood disorders are severe mental disorders related to increased suicidal behavior. Finding neural features for suicidal behavior, including suicide attempts (SAs) and suicidal ideation (SI), in mood disorders may be helpful in preventing suicidal behavior.

Methods

Subjects consisted of 70 patients with mood disorders and suicidal behavior, 128 patients with mood disorders without suicidal behavior (mood disorders control, MC), and 145 health control (HC) individuals. All participants underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) techniques to examine gray matter volumes (GMVs).

Results

Significant differences were found in GMVs of the left and right middle frontal gyrus among the patients with mood disorders and suicidal behavior, MC, and HC. Post hoc comparisons showed significant differences in the GMVs of the above regions across all three groups (P < 0.01): HC > MC > mood disorders with suicidal behavior. However, there were no significant differences in the GMVs of the left and right middle frontal gyrus between the mood disorders with SI and mood disorders with SAs groups.

Conclusions

These findings provide evidence that abnormal regional GMV in the middle frontal gyrus is associated with suicidal behavior in mood disorders. Further investigation is warranted to determine whether the GMV alterations in mood disorders with SI are different from these in mood disorders with SAs.
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Metadata
Title
Gray matter volume alterations associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in patients with mood disorders
Authors
Pengshuo Wang
Ran Zhang
Xiaowei Jiang
Shengnan Wei
Fei Wang
Yanqing Tang
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Annals of General Psychiatry / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1744-859X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-020-00318-y

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