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Treatment with Folic acid is associated with a decline in the rate of suicidal events.
Folic acid use was demonstrated to have a positive correlation with decreased incidence of suicide ideas and behaviour, according to a study published in "JAMA Psychiatry." In a national pharmacoepidemiologic investigation of patients treated with Folic acid, investigators sought to corroborate a prior signal for a lower risk of suicide efforts after prescription fills for Folic acid.
The dynamic connection between Folic acid (vitamin B9) prescription fills during 24-months and suicidal thoughts and deliberate self-harm was investigated using a within-person exposure-only cohort approach. Data were gathered for people with private health insurance who filled Folic acid prescription from pharmacoepidemiologic database. Repetition of the analysis was done with a control supplement (cyanocobalamin, vitamin B12). The data was analyzed.
Notably, 866 586 patients' data was gathered, of whom 81.30% (n = 704514) were female and 10.42% (n = 90 296) were ≥60 years of age. In total, 261 suicidal events occurred during the months when Folic acid was prescribed (5 521 597 person-months), equating to a rate of 4.73 per 100,000 person-months, contrasted to 895 suicidal events occurring during the months when Folic acid was not prescribed (8 432 340 person-months), equating to a rate of 10.61 per 100,000 person-months.
The hazard ratio (HR) for Folic acid for suicide events was 0.56, after adjusting for a history of suicidal events, history of folate-decreasing medications, diagnoses related to folate-decreasing medications, diagnoses associated with Folic acid deficiency, diagnoses related to suicidal behaviour, age and gender. Comparable findings were obtained for the modal dosage of 1 mg of Folic acid per day (HR, 0.57) and females of childbearing age (HR, 0.60).
A 1-mg dose duration-response analysis showed a 5% reduction in suicidal episodes for each extra month of therapy (HR, 0.95). No correlation between suicidal attempts (HR, 1.01) and the negative control, cyanocobalamin, was discovered by the same investigation. An advantageous relationship between Folic acid and decreased incidence of suicide attempts was noted in this extensive pharmacoepidemiologic investigation. A randomized clinical study should be conducted with suicide ideation and behaviour as the primary endpoints. If proven, Folic acid may be an affordable, safe, and widely accessible therapy for suicidal thoughts and actions.
JAMA Psychiatry
Association Between Folic Acid Prescription Fills and Suicide Attempts and Intentional Self-harm Among Privately Insured US Adults
Robert D. Gibbons et al.
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