AUTHOR=Cheng Xinyu , Zhang Yi , Zhao Di , Yuan Ti-Fei , Qiu Jianyin 

TITLE=Trait Anxiety Mediates Impulsivity and Suicidal Ideation in Depression During COVID-19 Pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.892442

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.892442

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Mental health has been an urgent affair during the COVID-19 pandemic, and depression, anxiety, and suicide are three keywords in the studies related to COVID-19 and mental health. Since anxiety symptoms commonly occur in depression and previous studies usually ignore the impact of anxiety on suicidal ideation in depression, this study aims to further explore it from the perspective of impulsivity in the background of COVID-19 by using questionnaires. 63 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 27 healthy subjects were recruited. MDD patients were divided into two subgroups (low SIOSS group/ high SIOSS group) according to the mean score of suicidal ideation (SIOSS) of patients. The results showed that MDD patients with high suicidal ideation had higher trait anxiety (p < 0.001, 95%CI = [-19.29, -5.02]) but there was no difference in state anxiety (p = 0.171, 95%CI = [-10.60, 1.25]) and impulsivity (p = 0.142, 95%CI = [-5.44, 0.52]), compared with those with low suicidal ideation. And the correlation between impulsivity and suicidal ideation was significant (r = 0.389, p = 0.002). Furthermore, trait anxiety played a fully mediating role between impulsivity and suicidal ideation in depression (total effect: β = 0.304, p = 0.002, 95%CI = [0.120, 0.489]; direct effect: β = 0.154, p = 0.076, 95%CI = [-0.169, 0.325]), indicating impulsivity influenced suicidal ideation through trait anxiety in depression. In conclusion, impulsivity and trait anxiety correlate with suicidal ideation in depression. Besides, trait anxiety plays a fully mediating role between impulsivity and suicidal ideation. These findings might indicate trait anxiety mediates impulsivity and suicidal ideation in depression. It inspires the public to pay more attention to MDD patients with anxiety symptoms for better prevention and intervention in suicidality.