Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempts and Completed Suicide in Adolescents: Neurobiological Aspects

Suicidal behavior is a complex and multidetermined phenomenon that affects countries around the world and all age groups. Adolescence is a critical period in human growth, ranging from 10 to 19 years of age, and it is one of the stages of life with the highest risk for the adoption of risky and suicidal behavior. In the USA, for youths between the ages of 10 and 24 years, suicide is the third leading cause of death. Deaths from youth suicide are only part of the problem. Among the age group of 15-24 years, it is estimated that approximately 100-200 suicide attempts take place for every completed suicide. In recent years, several studies and research projects have been conducted to better understand teenage suicide in order to implement effective prevention strategies. However, the majority of these have focused on psychosocial aspects of suicidal behavior among young people, such that the neurobiological aspects associated with it still remain unclear to a large degree. However, the involvement of specific abnormalities in neurobiological mechanisms as predisposing to, or as risk factors for, suicidal behavior is supported by several research studies, which have found an association between young suicide and abnormalities in the hypothalamic-pituitary-Adrenal axis, serotonergic system, signal transduction pathways, and inflammatory markers.