Psychiatry Investig.  2020 Apr;17(4):374-381. 10.30773/pi.2020.0020.

The Relationship between Performance of Attention Task andSuicidal Ideation in Korean Patients with Mood Disorders

• Kim SI
• Kong KA

• KMID: 2500244
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2020.0020

Abstract

Objective
We examined the performance of attention tests related to suicidal ideation in mood disorder patients and to explain the difference of attention test performance in relation to suicidal ideation after controlling clinical and psychological variables of mood disorder patients.
Methods
Seventy-three in- and outpatients with major depressive disorder (n=41) or bipolar disorder (n=32) completed a self-rating questionnaire assessing socio-demographic characteristics, and clinical and psychological variables. Comprehensive Attention Test (CAT) also was conducted.
Results
Thirty-three patients were the high-suicidal ideation (SI) group, and forty patients were the low-SI group. The errors of commission (CEs) of visual sustained attention in the high-SI group was 6.3 times higher on average than that of the low-SI group. After controlling for sex, age, and diagnosis, a higher number of CEs on visual sustained attention tasks predicted higher SI score. However, after controlling for sex, age, diagnosis, and depressive mood, this predictive ability was no longer observed.
Conclusion
This study showed that CE on the visual sustained attention task seems to influence suicidal ideation as a result of interaction with depressive symptoms. Psychiatry Investig 2020;17(4):374-381

Keyword

Mood disorder; Suicidal ideation; Sustained attention