BACKGROUND

People may endorse suicidal behavior during a major depressive episode. Affective temperaments may play a role in this risk. We explored the relationship between affective temperaments and suicide and identified some traits that can predict suicide risk in depression.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We analyzed the results of the Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Auto-questionnaire (TEMPS-A) in 284 participants recruited from a psychiatric clinic and the community in Beijing and compared the subscale scores (temperaments of cyclothymic, dysthymic, anxious, irritable, and hyperthymic) among major depressive disorders (MDDs) vs. the general population as well as depressive patients with vs. without suicide risk, using Student's test, chi-square test, rank-sum test, and multivariable regression modeling.

RESULTS

The incidence of suicidal risk in depressive subjects was 47.62% (80/168). Being unmarried ( < 0.001), unemployed ( = 0.007), and temperaments of dysthymic, cyclothymic, anxious, and irritable scores (all < 0.001) were significantly more prevalent in patients with depression than in the general population. Young age ( < 0.001), female sex ( = 0.037), unmarried ( = 0.001), more severe depression ( < 0.001), and dysthymic, anxious, and cyclothymic temperament (all < 0.05) were significantly more prevalent in patients with depressive disorder than those without suicide risk. The logistic regression analysis showed that younger age (odds ratio [] = 0.937, 95% 0.905∼0.970), female sex ( = 2.606, 95% 1.142∼5.948), more severe depression ( = 1.145, 95% 1.063∼1.234), cyclothymic temperament ( = 1.275, 95% 1.102∼1.475), and dysthymic temperament ( = 1.265, 95% 1.037∼1.542) were all independently associated with high suicidal risk in patients with first-onset major depression ( < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Temperament traits differ between the general population and people suffering from MDD. Subjects with MDD who have much more severe depressive symptoms and a cyclothymic or dysthymic temperament were at a high risk of suicide.