Table 1.

Studies since 2000 including suicidal thoughts or behavior in ASD

Study (author, year)	Population (diagnosis) and sample size	Setting	Suicidal thoughts or behavior assessed and question asked	Prevalence
Balfe and Tantam (2010)	Adolescents and adults with Asperger syndrome N = 42	Community sample	Suicidal ideation and suicide attempt via self-report questionnaire (included questions about behavior) Question(s): not specified	Suicidal ideation: 40% Suicide attempt: 15%
Cassidy et al. (2014)	Adults with Asperger disorder N = 374	Outpatient diagnostic clinic	Suicidal ideation, suicide planning or attempt via—a self-report questionnaire (not validated; plans and attempts collapsed into one item) Question(s): “Have you ever felt suicidal?” “If yes, have you ever planned or attempted suicide?”	Suicidal ideation: 66% (243/367) Suicide plans or attempts: 35% (127/365)
Mandell et al. (2005)	Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Asperger disorder N = 156	Several community samples	Suicide attempt (examined in relation to history of physical or sexual abuse) via structured interview with the parent/caregiver Question(s): not specified	Suicide attempt: 31.6% in sub-sample of children physically abused (n = 22); 39.1% in sub-sample of children sexually abused (n = 26); 7–8.5% in children without a history of abuse
Mayes et al. (2013)	Children with autism spectrum disorders N = 791	Psychiatric diagnostic clinic	Suicidal ideation and suicide attempt via parent/caregiver ratings on the pediatric behavior scale (PBS) Question(s): “talks about harming or killing self”; “Deliberately harms self or attempts suicide” with frequency rating	Suicidal ideation: 10.9% Suicide attempt: 7.2%
Raja et al. (2011)	Adults psychiatric patients with autism spectrum disorders N = 26	(1) Psychiatric intensive care unit of general hospital (2) Private practice	Retrospective chart review of recent (last month suicidal ideation, suicide planning, or suicide attempt) Question(s): “thought about suicide in general”; “thought about methods for possible suicide”; “attempted suicide or self-harmed in anyway”	Suicide completion: 7.7% (2/26) Suicide attempt: 3.8% ( ½6) Suicidal ideation: 30.8% (8/26)
Shtayermman (2007)	Adolescents and young adults with Asperger syndrome N = 10	Community sample	Suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts assessed via self-report questionnaire Question(s): Suicide Ideation Questionnaire—30 items with Likert responses assessing suicidal ideation in the past month using	Suicidal ideation: 50%
Storch et al. (2013)	Youth with autism spectrum disorder and co-occurring anxiety problems N = 102	Clinical research setting	Suicidal ideation, suicide planning, or suicide attempt, via Anxiety Disorder Interview Schedule—child and parent versions (structured interviewed) conducted independently with parent/caregiver and child)	Total suicidal thoughts and behavior (including past attempts) 11% Parent-reported suicide ideation (SI): 4% Parent-reported suicide planning (SP): 5% Parent-reported suicide attempt (SA): 1% Child-reported SI: 5% Child-reported SP: 9% Child-reported SA: 1%
Current study	Youth with autism spectrum disorder, verbally-fluent, NVIQ > 55 N = 107	Specialized inpatient psychiatry units	Suicidal ideation via parent-report measure of psychiatric symptoms (child and adolescent symptom inventory-5) Question(s): “talks about death or suicide” Parent/caregiver rated their child on this item using a 4-point likert scale (choices: “never”; “sometimes”; often”; “very often”)	Talks about suicide or death: Often: 16% (17/107) Very often: 7% (7/107)