Childhood maltreatment and risk for suicide attempts in major depression: a sex-specific approach

Figures & data

Table 1. Distribution of demographic and clinical characteristics for the complete sample and according to childhood maltreatment group.

	Total sample (N = 165)	Childhood maltreatment (N = 94)	No childhood maltreatment (N = 71)	t-Test/χ ^2	p
Demographic variables
Age (years)	52.3 ± 9.6	51.5 ± 9.7	53.4 ± 9.4	1.261	0.21
Sex (female)	114 (69.5)	66 (70.2)	48 (68.6)	0.051	0.87
Years of education	10.4 ± 4.3	10.7 ± 3.9	11 ± 3.9	0.480	0.63
Socio-economic status				5.084	0.08
Low	54 (32.9)	29 (30.9)	25 (35.7)
Middle	94 (56.7)	59 (62.8)	35 (48.6)
High	17 (10.4)	6 (6.4)	11 (15.7)
Clinical characteristics
Age at onset (years)	41.7 ± 12.2	41.1 ± 11.4	42.5 ± 13.2	0.731	0.47
Treatment-resistant depression	6.4 ± 2.1	6.6 ± 2.0	6.1 ± 2.2	−1.378	0.17
MDD symptom severity	14.3 ± 8.6	15.2 ± 8.3	13.1 ± 8.9	−1.559	0.12
MDD with psychotic symptoms	17 (10.7)	9 (9.8)	8 (11.9)	0.189	0.80
Comorbidities	65 (39.6)	40 (42.6)	25 (35.7)	0.784	0.42
Anxiety	10 (6.1)	5 (5.3)	5 (7.1)	0.233	0.75
Dysthymia	35 (21.3)	25 (26.6)	10 (14.3)	3.622	0.08
Dysfunctional personality traits^a	20 (12.2)	10 (10.6)	10 (14.3)	0.498	0.48
Family history of psychiatric disorders	133 (81.6)	74 (79.6)	59 (84.3)	0.591	0.54
History of suicide attempt	33 (20.1)	23 (24.5)	10 (14.3)	2.588	0.11
CTQ minimization–denial scale = 1	79 (47.9)	34 (36.2)	45 (63.4)	12.001	0.001

Data are presented as mean ± SD or frequency (%) as appropriate.

^aDo not fulfil Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for personality disorder.

MDD, major depressive disorder; CTQ, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Table 2. Presence and type of maltreatment divided by sex.

	Female (N = 114)	Male (N = 51)	χ ^2	p
Maltreatment (presence)	66 (57.9)	28 (54.9)	0.129	0.720
Emotional abuse	39 (34.2)	8 (15.7)	5.936	0.015*
Physical abuse	16 (14.0)	7 (13.7)	0.003	0.958
Sexual abuse	27 (23.7)	6 (11.8)	3.129	0.077
Emotional neglect	48 (42.1)	22 (43.1)	0.015	0.901
Physical neglect	29 (25.4)	17 (33.3)	1.092	0.296
CTQ minimization–denial scale = 1	51 (44.7)	27 (54.0)	1.196	0.274

Data are presented as frequency (%) within each category.

CTQ, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

*Significant difference between groups (p < 0.05).

Table 3. Binomial logistic regression analysis results for the model entering all variables of interest (unadjusted model) and the model entering only statistically significant variables (fully adjusted model).

	Unadjusted model			Fully adjusted model
	Total sample (N = 165)			Total sample (N = 165)			Female (N = 114)			Male (N = 51)
Variable	OR	95% CI	p	OR	95% CI	p	OR	95% CI	p	OR	95% CI	p
Sex	2.53	0.85–7.51	0.10
Age at onset	1.01	0.98–1.05	0.53							1.18	0.99–1.38	0.06
Family history of psychiatric disorders	4.32	0.94–20.65	0.07*	4.0	0.87–18.37	0.08
Comorbidities	0.72	0.48–2.87	0.72
MDD symptom severity	0.98	0.93–1.03	0.50
MDD with psychotic symptoms	0.50	0.09–2.90	0.44
Treatment-resistant depression	1.07	0.84–1.35	0.59
CTQ minimization–denial scale	1.11	0.45–2.73	0.82							10.21	0.90–116.33	0.06
Childhood maltreatment	3.33	1.23–9.03	0.02*	3.01	1.19–7.09	0.02*	2.82	1.02–7.74	0.04*	3.92	0.44–34.80	0.22

MDD, major depressive disorder; CTQ, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

*Significant difference between groups (Unadjusted model p < 0.15; Fully adjusted model p < 0.05).