Suicidal risk and resilience in juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome: a cross-sectional cohort study

BackgroundTo characterize suicidality among youth with juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome (JFMS) receiving treatment from pediatric rheumatologists at a tertiary care center in order to determine the prevalence of suicidality in JFMS and to explore risk factors for persistent suicidal ideation.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional cohort study of children 12-17years old with JFMS seen in a specialty pediatric rheumatology pain clinic from 7/2017-9/2019. All subjects completed patient-reported outcomes measures, complemented by retrospective chart review. Subjects who endorsed item 8 on the Children's Depression Inventory, 2nd Edition (CDI-2) were categorized as endorsing suicidal ideation. We assessed for differences between the suicidal and non-suicidal patients using Wilcoxon-rank sum test. Logistic regression modeling was performed to identify psychosocial factors associated with suicidality.ResultsOf the 31 subjects, more than one-quarter endorsed suicidality. Nearly 90% of teens with suicidal ideation were established in outpatient counseling. In bivariate analyses, suicidality was associated with lower resilience and greater depression and anxiety (all p<0.05). Pain intensity trended towards a statistically significant positive association (OR: 1.16 [0.99-1.37]; p=0.06). Lower resilience was independently associated with suicidality (OR: 0.90 [95% CI: 0.82-0.98]; p<0.02).ConclusionsSuicidality was prevalent among youth with JFMS and persistent despite concurrent receipt of mental health services. Higher patient-level resilience was independently associated with a reduced odds of suicidality. Future work should examine the role of resilience training on reducing psychological distress and mitigating the risk of suicidality in JFMS.