Suicidal behavior is four times more frequent in university students with bipolar disorder assessed by an online version of Mood Disorder Questionnaire

Introduction: Bipolar disorder (BD) in young people is frequently associated with suicidal behavior. The main objective of this research is to evaluate if university students who have BD show more suicidal behavior than those who do not have BD.

Materials and Methods: 583 university students from Fortaleza, Brazil, participated in this study. Volunteers over 18 years of age who were attending public or private universities from March to December 2019 were able to participate. A sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) were filled out. According to MDQ, participants were classified into three groups: 1) individuals without BD (n=318); 2) individuals with subthreshold BD symptoms (n=160); 3) individuals with BD (n=105).

Results: Compared to those who do not have BD, individuals  with BD had four times less plans for the future (x2=16.00; p=0.000), considered four times life less worth living (x2=13.44; p=0.001), assumed two times more frequently death as welcome if it comes (x2=19.10; p=0.000), thought two times more about getting hurt (x2=75.32; p=0.000), had seven times more specific plans to  die (x2=39.93; p=0.000) and had four times more suicide attempts (x2=33.50; p=0.000).

Conclusions: Suicidal behavior was four times more prominent in university students with BD than in those who did not have BD.