Arrom Pitaksongkram. Stability of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among senior high school students in Tak province Thailand. Master's Degree(Epidemiology). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2009.
Stability of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among senior high school students in Tak province Thailand
Abstract:
This cross-sectional study aimed to study stability of depressive symptoms
and determine the association between stability of depressive symptoms and suicidal
ideation among senior high school students. Subjects consisted of 333 students. Data
was collected from August 20 to September 30, 2008 by using a self-administered
questionnaire. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the
average depressive scores. The relationship between stability of depressive
symptoms and suicidal ideation were examined by Chi-square or Fisher exact test
and odds ratio was used to assess the strength of association between stability of
depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation.
The prevalence of depressive students and suicidal ideation were quite stable,
about 20% and 10% respectively, across the three assessments. The prevalence of
subjects who had stable depressive symptoms was 8.1%. Mean of The Center for
Epidemiological Studies - Depression scale (CES-D) scores of those with CES-D
positive for 1 time, 2 times and 3 times were 20.20 (95% CI = 18.48, 21.92), 23.35
(95% CI = 21.41, 25.30) and 28.93, (95% CI = 26.55, 31.30) respectively. There was
a linear association between the number of CES-D positive and suicidal ideation. It
was revealed students who had 1 time, 2 times and 3 times of CES-D positive had
higher risk of having suicidal ideation than those who had no depression with odds
ratios 5.48 (95% CI = 2.33,12.85), 7.50 (95% CI = 2.89,19.50) and 19.36 (95% CI =
7.36,51.07) respectively. It demonstrated that adolescents who had stable depressive
symptoms had a higher risk of suicidal ideation greater than those who had unstable
or transient depressive symptoms by a factor of 3.14 (95% CI=1.30, 7.61).
The study confirmed that greater severity of depressive symptoms can lead to
persistence of symptoms for a longer time and causes a higher risk of suicidal
ideation. These findings could be useful for identifying adolescents who are at high
risk and providing early intervention.