People with Parkinson’s have at increased risk for suicide, report shows

A new report highlights the high risk for suicide that comes with having Parkinson’s disease. 

People living with Parkinson’s disease have twice the average risk of a suicide attempt or death by suicide, according to a meta-analysis published Monday in JAMA Neurology.

The researchers looked at 10 studies to draw their conclusion that the odds of suicidal behavior were 2.15-fold higher in people living with Parkinson’s disease compared with people in the general population. 

Among people living with Parkinson’s disease, about one in five had suicidal ideation — in fact, it occurred in 22.2% of people across 14 studies, the report said.

As part of the study, the team looked at research on suicidal ideation or behavior and Parkinson’s disease. The team looked at data from 505,950 Parkinson’s patients across the span of 28 studies. 

Fourteen studies examined suicidal ideation, and 21 studies looked at suicidal behavior. According to a sensitivity analyses that excluded three outliers, the prevalence of suicidal ideation was 24%. Across nine studies, the hazard ratio for people with Parkinson’s to show suicidal behavior was 1.73 compared with those without the disease.

“Depressive mood disorders are the greatest risk factors for both suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior and are present in almost half of patients with Parkinson’s disease. Additional risk factors include sleep disorders and feelings of hopelessness,” the authors wrote.

“Efforts directed at identifying and addressing these risk factors, such as improving the quality and quantity of sleep through medications, could be helpful for these patients,” they added.

The authors noted that many of the cross-sectional studies did not include people who had the disease and died by suicide — something that the they said could have underestimated the true prevalence of suicidal behavior.

“Numerous barriers prevent patients from reaching out and getting the help they need, such as stigma toward receiving mental healthcare, lack of knowledge, limited accessibility, and financial or logistical issues,” the authors stated. “As such, a treatment gap exists that requires much effort to reduce.”