Reduced attentional control in individuals with a history of suicide attempts compared to those with suicidal ideation: Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Neurocognitive profiles may be especially useful to identify factors that facilitate transitioning from contemplating suicide to attempting suicide. Generally, those who attempt suicide show greater disruptions in neurocognitive ability compared to those who think about suicide but do not proceed to attempt. The goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to test whether this pattern is observed with attentional control.

METHODS

We systematically searched PubMed, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and Google Scholar to find pertinent studies. All included studies compared attentional functioning using neutral stimuli. Each sample featured adults with a history of suicidal ideation (SI) and no history of suicide attempts (SA) compared to those with a history of SA.

RESULTS

We identified 15 studies with 32 effect sizes (N = 931; n = 506 with SI only; n = 425 with SA). SA groups, compared to SI groups, exhibited worse accuracy yet similar reaction time, suggesting a comparatively blunted speed-accuracy tradeoff. Relative to SI, SA groups performed worse on Stroop-like and Go/NoGo tasks. SA performed better than SI on Trail Making Test B, but not A.

LIMITATIONS

There were few available studies. Most samples were small. We did not differentiate current vs. past SI or high vs. low lethality SA. Only English and Spanish language articles were included.

CONCLUSIONS

Disrupted attentional control may convey risk for transitioning to SA from SI. More work is needed to determine which components of attention are most associated with suicide risk.

Impact of universal childhood vaccination against hepatitis B in Ghana: A pilot study

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is of public health importance worldwide. Vaccination against the infection, especially in early childhood has significantly reduced the public health impact. This pilot study was undertaken in Cape Coast Metropolitan area to assess the impact of the introduction of HBV vaccination in children. A cross-sectional multi-stage cluster sampling of 501 pupils from 30 public and private primary and junior high schools within the Cape Coast metropolis. A questionnaire covering basic demographic details and immunisation history were administered to the participants after consent and assent had been sought. Hepatitis B serological test for HBsAg, HBcAb, HBsAb, HBeAg and HbeAb was undertaken using Hepatitis B test kit and capillary blood from the participants. The general prevalence of HBcAb, HBsAg and HBsAb was found to be 3.6, 2.6 and 19.8% respectively. The prevalence of HBcAb was 2.6 and 6.1% among pupils delivered after and before the vaccine programme introduction respectively. Introduction of the vaccination programme in Ghana has had a positive impact on the HBV infection in Ghana.

Prevalence of psychological symptoms among adults with sickle cell disease in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana

BACKGROUND

Previous research revealed high prevalence of psychological symptoms among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in the West and Europe. In some Black SCD populations such as Nigeria and Jamaica, anxiety and depression had low prevalence rates compared to Europe. With difficulty locating research data on the prevalence of psychological symptoms in Ghana, this study aimed at exploring psychological symptoms among adults with SCD in a Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana.

METHODS

Two hundred and one participants (males 102 and females 99) who were HbSS (n = 131) and HbSC (n = 70), aged 18 years and above were purposively recruited. Using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) in a cross-sectional survey, the research answered questions about the prevalence of psychological symptoms. It also examined gender and genotype differences in psychological symptoms scores.

RESULTS

Results indicated that adults with SCD had non-distress psychological symptoms scores. Although paranoid ideation as a psychological symptom indicated "a little bit" score, its prevalence was only 1 %. The prevalence of psychological symptoms as indexed by the Positive Symptom Total (PST) was 10 %. Anxiety, hostility, and depression were psychological symptoms with low scores. Furthermore, except psychoticism scores, males did not differ significantly from females in other psychological symptoms. On the contrary, HbSS participants differed significantly, reporting more psychological symptoms than their HbSC counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

The study concluded that there was low prevalence of psychological symptoms among adults with SCD in this Ghanaian study. Although psychological symptoms distress scores were not observed among study participants at this time, females differed significantly by experiencing more psychoticism symptoms than males. HbSS participants also differed significantly by experiencing more depression, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, and additional symptoms such as poor appetite, trouble falling asleep, thoughts of dying, and feeling guilty, than their HbSC counterparts. Implications for further study and clinical practice were discussed.