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Current suicide risk assessments for predicting suicide attempts are time consuming, of low predictive value and have inadequate reliability. This paper aims to develop a predictive model for suicide attempts among patients with depression using machine learning algorithms as well as presents a comparative study on single predictive models with ensemble predictive models for differentiating depressed patients with suicide attempts from non-suicide attempters. We applied and trained eight different machine learning algorithms using a dataset that consists of 75 patients diagnosed with a depressive disorder. A recursive feature elimination was used to reduce the features via three-fold cross validation. An ensemble predictive models outperformed the single predictive models. Voting and bagging revealed the highest accuracy of 92% compared to other machine learning algorithms. Our findings indicate that history of suicide attempt, religion, race, suicide ideation and severity of clinical depression are useful factors for prediction of suicide attempts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maternal depression may affect child feeding practices and growth. Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between child feeding practices and current maternal depression with malnutrition among young children in a rural community. Methods: This is a case–control study consisting of 52 Malay mothers of malnourished children (case) and 50 Malay mothers of well-nourished children (control) in Kuala Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. Structured questionnaires on child feeding practices and Beck Depression Inventory: Second Edition questionnaire were distributed to mothers. Results: Depressed mothers stopped exclusive breastfeeding (2.8 ± 2.1 months) earlier than non-depressed mothers (3.7 ± 2.0 months; p = 0.045). Binary logistic regression analysis showed current maternal depression was a primary contributor associated with risk of malnutrition in children (adjusted odds ratio: 2.5, 95% confidence interval: 1.08–6.09), and followed by the number of children (adjusted odds ratio: 1.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.02–1.77). Conclusion: Mothers who experienced depression were twice as likely to have malnourished children. Each additional child in the family will increase the risk of malnutrition by 1.3 times. Maternal depression is associated with child feeding practices and malnutrition among young children in the studied population. Preliminary screening to identify depression symptoms should be conducted to all mothers as early as the first trimester to prevent the incidence of malnutrition in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Patients receiving methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) experience higher level of stress and are at greater risk of developing mental health problems such as depression which could potentially affect both quality of life and treatment outcomes. This cross-sectional study is aimed at understanding the relationship between psychosocial factors such as social support, coping, and depression among patients receiving MMT in a Malaysian Hospital. Methods: One hundred and ninety-six patients attending MMT program were recruited. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to screen for depression, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) was used to assess participants' perceived social support, and the Brief COPE questionnaire was used to assess coping strategies. The diagnosis of depression was made using Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Results: About 13.8% of our sample were diagnosed with depression. From our analysis, it was found that having higher levels of perceived social support (OR = 0.462, 95% CI 0.238-0.899, P <.05), the use of active and emotion focused coping mechanism (OR = 0.231, 95% CI 0.095-0.565, P <.005), and support seeking and self-distraction coping mechanism (OR = 0.196, 95% CI 0.074-0.521, P <.001) was associated with lower likelihood of depression. On the contrary, the use of dysfunctional coping strategies such as denial, behavioral disengagement, and self-blame was associated with increased likelihood of depression (OR = 9.384, 95% CI 3.081-28.581, P <.001). Conclusion: Active and emotion focused along with support and self-distraction coping strategies, and higher levels of perceived social support may serve as a buffer against depression in patients receiving MMT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]