Investigation of impulsivity, anxiety and depressive symptoms as predictors of suicide in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Objective: Suicide is one of the preventable causes of death. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been shown to increase the risk of suicide as in most mental illnesses. However, there are limited number of studies to determine predictors of suicide in OCD patients. Due to the lack of literature, this study aims to reveal the relationship between impulsivity and suicidal behavior in OCD patients. Methods: The sample of this cross-sectional study consisted of 122 OCD patients who were diagnosed according to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and included in the study. The participants were evaluated with Sociodemographic Data Form, Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsion Scale (Y-BOCS) and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D), Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11 (BIS-11) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The patients were divided into two groups with and without suicide attempt and were subjected to appropriate statistical treatment. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between BIS-11 total and subscale scores and BAI scores of two groups with and without suicide attempt, but there was a statistically significant difference between HAM-D, Y-BOCS total, obsession, compulsion scores and suicide attempts. In OCD patients, gender, Y-BOCS and HAM-D scores were predictive of suicide, whereas age and BIS-11 scores were not predictive. Conclusion: This study suggests that suicidal behavior in OCD patients results from symptom severity rather than impulsivity. Long-term follow-up studies are needed to investigate the relationship between impulsivity and suicide in OCD patients.