====== Impulsivity ======


Impulsivity is the tendency to act without thinking, for example if you blurt something out, buy something you had not planned to, or run across the street without looking. To a degree, this kind of behavior is common, especially in children or teenagers, and isn't necessarily a sign of trouble.
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[[Impulsivity]], may be an early [[predictor]] of suicidality following TBI. The purpose of a study was to evaluate the risk of suicidality in patients with a prior history of impulsivity following a [[traumatic brain injury]] (TBI). Using de-identified electronic health records from the TriNetX United States Collaborative Network with Natural Language Processing, three cohorts were generated: the impulsivity TBI cohort (I+TBI+) included subjects with a diagnosis of impulsivity before a diagnosis of TBI; the no impulsivity TBI cohort (I-TBI+) included patients with TBI but no impulsivity; the impulsivity no TBI cohort (I+TBI-) included patients with impulsivity but TBI. Two analyses were conducted, including analysis 1 (impulsivity TBI vs. no impulsivity TBI) and analysis 2 (impulsivity TBI vs. impulsivity no TBI). Patients were 1:1 propensity score matched by age, sex, race, ethnicity, psychiatric diagnoses, and antidepressant use. Outcomes included a diagnosis of self-harm, suicidal ideation, or a suicide attempt within one year after the index event. The all-time incidence of each outcome was assessed across different age categories. The chi-square test (categorical variables) and t-test (numerical variables) were used to assess for differences between groups. A total of 1,292,776 TBI patients were identified in the study. After 1:1 propensity score-matching, there were 20,694 patients (mean [SD] age, 48.1 [21.8]; 8,424 females [40.7%]) with impulsivity and TBI (I+TBI+), 1,272,082 patients (mean [SD] age, 46.0 [23.1]; 562,705 females [44.2%]) with TBI alone (I-TBI+), and 90,669 patients (mean [SD] age, 43.7 [22.6]; 45,188 females [49.8%]) with impulsivity alone (I+TBI-). Within the first year after a TBI, patients with impulsivity were more likely to exhibit self-harm (P < 0.001), suicidal ideation (P < 0.001) or a suicide attempt (P < 0.001). Compared to TBI patients without impulsivity, those with impulsivity had a four-fold increase in the incidence of self-harm (2.81% vs. 0.63%), an eight-fold increase in suicidal ideation (52.42% vs. 6.41%), and a twenty-one-fold increase in suicide attempts (32.02% vs. 1.50%). This study suggests that impulsivity diagnosed before a TBI may increase the risk of post-traumatic suicidality, with a four-fold increased risk of self-harm, an eight-fold increased risk of suicidal ideation and a twenty-one-fold increased risk of suicide attempts. This characterizes a group of at-risk individuals who may benefit from early psychiatric support and targeted interventions following a TBI
((Ladner L, Shick T, Adhikari S, Marvin E, Weppner J, Kablinger A. Association between impulsivity, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts in traumatic brain injury patients. J Neurotrauma. 2024 Aug 16. doi: 10.1089/neu.2024.0167. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39150012.))