Thursday, Oct. 19
10:45 – 11:45 (1 hr)
Meeting Room: Beluga (3rd floor – B Tower)
Valerie Primeau*, MD, FRCPC; Valerie Primeau, MD FRCPC; Benjamin Cassidy, MD BSc MA Psychology

CanMEDS Roles:

1. Medical Expert
2. Collaborator
3. Health Advocate

At the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1) Describe the prevalence and clinical correlates of suicidal ideation in motor, nonmotor, cognition, and dependency in Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; 2) Describe the association between general cognitive function as well as specific cognitive domains and suicide risk across the life span; and 3) Summarize the common risk factors for suicidal ideation across neuropsychiatric patient populations.

Increased prevalence of suicidality has been documented in multiple neuropsychiatric patient populations, including those diagnosed with neurocognitive disorder, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Additionally, clinical correlates of suicidal ideation have been identified in many of these patient populations, such as cognitive deficits, perceived disability, recency of diagnosis, and comorbid mood and anxiety symptoms. Further, studies in general have demonstrated an association between cognitive performance and suicidal ideation. In this symposium, we explore the prevalence and risk factors for suicidal ideation in various neuropsychiatric patient populations and outline how these data highlight 1) the need for increased suicidal ideation screening in those with neurological diagnoses and 2) the disorder-specific risk factors to consider when performing these suicide risk assessments.

References:

1. Feinstein A, Pavisian B. Multiple sclerosis and suicide. Mult Scler 2017;23(7):923–927.
2. Lai AX, Kaup AR, Yaffe K, et al. High occurrence of psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavior across dementia subtypes. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2018;26(12):1191–1201.