Constitutional and morphological bases of suicidal behavior in patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

Objective. To determine the contribution of constitutional and morphological characteristics of patients with schizophrenia to suicidal behavior. Material and methods. The study included 200 patients with schizophrenia. The anthropometric assessment was conducted using the V.V. Bunak method modified by V.P. Chtetsov, and the Rees-Eysenk and Tanner indices were calculated. Through a clinical interview and analysis of medical records, the history of suicidal attempts was collected. The Beck Hopelessness Scale was used as an additional tool to assess the suicidal risk. Statistical processing was performed using the χ2 test and the Kruskal—Wallis test with the multiple post hoc pairwise comparison procedure (Dunn test). Results. The prevalence of external forms of suicidal behavior in patients was 34%. Internal forms of suicidal behavior based on the factor of hopelessness were found in 41% of patients. In the group of patients with a history of suicidal attempts, the asthenic type was significantly more common (p=0.019). In patients with the andromorphic type of somatic sexual differentiation, internal forms of suicidal behavior prevailed (47.1%, p=0.011), and persons with the gynecomorphic type generally had a high percentage of both external (41.2%) and internal (43.1%) forms of suicidal behavior (p=0.004). In patients with an asthenic somatotype, external forms of suicidal behavior were more common (47%, p=0.011), while in those with a mesosthenic somatotype, internal forms prevailed (49.5%, p<0.001). Conclusion. The patterns found in this study indicate that a shift in somatic sexual differentiation to gynecomorphy and a morphophenotypic shift towards asthenia are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior in patients with schizophrenia.

Affiliated Institutions

• Mental Health Research Institute, Tomsk National Research Medical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences RU
• Mental Health Research Institute AU
• Russian Academy of Sciences RU
• Tomsk National Research Medical Center RU

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