Background: Affective disorders in children and adolescents have received growing attention in the world scenario of mental health. Additionally, there has been an increasing prevalence of suicidal ideation in this population.
Objective: A systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted to demonstrate the main risk factors regarding the development of suicidal ideation in the bipolar disorder.
Methods: This is a systematic review with meta-analysis using the PRISMA protocol (http://www.prisma-statement.org/). This study included secondary data. Original data in mental health were collected by mapping the evidence found in the following electronic databases: MEDLINE/PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, and ScienceDirect in the period from 2005 to 2015.
Results: We found 1418 registrations in such databases, and 46 of them were selected to comprise this review. The result introduces a joint risk between the studies of 2.94 CI [2.29-3.78]. A significant correlation was verified between the risk factors and the suicidal ideation. The result was r (Pearson) = 0.7103 and p value <0.001.
Conclusion: Children and adolescents living with bipolar disorder are more vulnerable to suicidal ideation. These results reinforce the need of a more effective public policy directed toward this population.
Keywords: Adolescent; Bipolar disorder; Child; Mental health; Risk factors; Suicidal ideation.