Could alexithymia predict suicide attempts - a study of Croatian war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

BACKGROUND To investigate the possibility if alexithymia could be used as a predictor of attempted suicide among patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The study was based on 127 veterans from the 1991-1995 war in Croatia. All the patients involved in this study were previously diagnosed with PTSD. The questionnaires (socio-demographic questionnaire, Mississippi scale for combat related PTSD questionnaire, and 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale questionnaire) were administered by investigators. RESULTS The results suggest that alexithymia was significantly associated with attempted suicide (P=0.020). Furthermore, alexithymia remained a significant predictor of an attempted suicide even in the multivariate regression model, which yielded an odds ratio (OR) of 2.87 (95% confidence intervals 1.18-7.00). CONCLUSIONS These results point out that alexithymia can be considered as a potential risk factor for suicide in this population, suggesting that it may also be used as an indicator of worsening psychological status and attempted suicide in other population groups with higher alexithymia prevalence.