Schedule of Events | Symposia

Attentional dysfunction in post-9/11 veterans with suicidal thoughts and behaviors

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Jessica Sullivan^1,2, Jaiden Huang^1,6, Audreyana Jagger-Rickels^1,2,3, Catherine Fortier^4,5, William Milberg^4,5, Jaclyn Kearns^2,3, Joseph DeGutis^1,4,5, Michael Esterman^1,2,3,4; ¹Boston Attention and Learning Lab (BALLAB), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA, ²Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA, ³National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA, ⁴Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA, ⁵Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, ⁶University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Although neuropsychological deficits in attentional control have been shown to contribute to or underlie numerous psychiatric disorders, markedly less work has examined whether such deficits contribute to suicide risk. This is especially challenging given the high levels of comorbidities in individuals with suicide risk, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Investigating the cognitive correlates of suicide risk (e.g., suicide attempt) may help identify underlying mechanisms of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, as well as better predict those at greatest risk. To address this question, 332 trauma-exposed post-9/11 veterans participated in this study as a part of a broader ongoing longitudinal study. Participants completed the gradual-onset continuous performance task (gradCPT), a well-validated measure of sustained attentional control, alongside a battery of neuropsychological tests of attention, executive functioning, and memory. We compared performance on these tests between those with and without a suicide attempt (SA) history. We also characterized their current suicidal ideation (SI) and their PTSD and depression symptoms. We observed that veterans with SA had impaired performance, marked by greater response variability on the gradCPT, compared to those without SA (p<0.01). Although depression and PTSD were also associated with increased variability on the gradCPT, the effect of SA remained significant after controlling for current PTSD and depression symptoms (p<0.05), as well as when controlling for current SI (p<0.01). These effects were not observed during standard neuropsychological tests, indicating that deficits in sustained attention may represent a distinct cognitive mechanism linked to an increased risk of suicide.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Other