More than 36,000 people in the United States die from suicide annually, and suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescence. Adolescence is a time of high risk for suicidal behavior, as well as a time that intervention and treatment may have the greatest impact because of structural brain changes and significant psychosocial development during this period. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies in adults who have attempted suicide suggest distinct gray matter volume abnormalities in cortical regions, as well as prefrontal cortical and dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus neural circuitry differences compared with affective and healthy adult controls. Recent functional neuroimaging studies in adolescents with a history of suicide attempt suggest differences in the attention and salience networks compared with adolescents with depression and no history of suicide attempt and healthy controls when viewing angry faces. In contrast, no abnormalities are seen in these areas in the absence of emotional stimuli. These networks may represent promising targets for future neuroimaging studies to identify markers of risk for future suicide attempt in adolescents.
Keywords: Adolescent; depression; neuroimaging; salience network; suicide.