University of Birmingham

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2026 -- Head injuries are associated with an increased risk for suicide attempt, according to a study published in the Jan. 27 issue of Neurology . Tiffany E. Gooden, M.P.H., Ph.D., from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a 20-year population-based matched cohort study to examine whether people with head injuries have a higher risk for suicide compared with those without head injuries. Adults with head injuries were matched to those without a head injury by age, sex, and geographic location in a 1:4 ratio. The researchers found 5,107 suicide attempts were recorded among 389,523 people with head injuries compared with 9,815 among 1,489,675 adults without head injury (incidence rate, 2.4 versus 1.6 per 1,000 person-years), resulting in an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.21. The first 12 months after head injury, higher deprivation, and history of a mental health condition were risk factors for suicide attempt. For death by suicide, the adjusted hazard ratio was 0.74; after controlling for competing risk for death, this finding became nonsignificant. All subgroups investigated had a higher risk for suicide attempt, including those without any baseline mental health condition. "Our findings show that the impact of head injuries [is] not limited to just physical symptoms or repercussions. They can have profound psychological consequences. Suicide risk assessments should be considered for anyone with a recent head injury, regardless of their mental health history, to improve and safeguard patient outcomes," lead author Nicola J. Adderley, M.P.H., Ph.D., also from the University of Birmingham, said in a statement. Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required) Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)

TUESDAY, Dec. 30, 2025 — A serious knock on the noggin might substantially increase a person’s risk of suicide, a new study says. People who’ve sustained a head injury are 21% more likely to attempt suicide than those without such an injury, researchers recently reported in the journal Neurology . “Our findings show that the impact of head injuries are not limited to just physical symptoms or repercussions. They can have profound psychological consequences,” said lead researcher Nicola Adderley , a professor of epidemiology and real-world evidence at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. “Suicide risk assessments should be considered for anyone with a recent head injury, regardless of their mental health history, to improve and safeguard patient outcomes,” she said in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed records for more than 1.8 million adults in the United Kingdom across two decades, tracking those who had a head injury to see if they later attempted suicide. Overall, nearly 390,000 people with a head injury were compared to about 1.5 million who didn’t have a head injury. The rate of suicide among people with head injuries was 2.4 per 1,000 person-years, compared to 1.6 per 1,000 person-years among the uninjured, researchers said. Results indicated that the risk of suicide was highest within 12 months of a head injury. After that, the risk remained higher compared to those without head injuries, even though it declined over time, researchers said. The study also did not find a significant increase in deaths by suicide, suggesting that head injuries might contribute to more non-fatal attempts. Overall, the results suggest that people who’ve had a head injury need more mental health support as they recuperate, researchers said. “These findings have implications for both clinical practice and health policy; highlighting the urgent need for targeted mental health and well-being support,” senior researcher G. Neil Thomas , a professor of epidemiology at the University of Birmingham, said in a news release. “The development and testing of robust suicide risk assessment and prevention strategies for people with head injuries should be further investigated; especially within the first 12 months post-head injury and irrespective of mental health history,” Thomas added. Erin Bigler , a retired professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University in Utah, co-wrote an editorial that accompanied the study. It said the link between head injuries and suicide risk likely involves damage to what has been called the brain’s “cone of vulnerability” – the brain structures critical for emotional regulation and decision-making. “Damage or dysregulation in these regions may produce impulsivity, disinhibition and impaired judgment, thereby lowering the threshold for self-harm,” the editorial says. Sources University of Birmingham, news release, Dec. 22, 2025 Neurology, Dec. 22, 2025

TUESDAY, Dec. 30, 2025 — Early changes in a person's gut bacteria might herald the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a new evidence review has found. This finding could help doctors diagnose IBD earlier, and, researchers added, potentially fuel efforts to find new treatments for the condition. Researchers found that people with the most common types of IBD, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis tend to lose beneficial anaerobic bacteria that help us digest complex carbohydrates. (Anaerobic means these bacteria live and grow where oxygen is not present.) At the same time, patients experience an increase in oxygen-tolerant bacteria that are naturally found in the mouth, but have traveled to the gut. “This is the first study to demonstrate these changes so clearly at the onset of disease — and across multiple international datasets,” co-lead researcher Dr. Peter Rimmer said in a news release. He’s a clinical lecturer in gastroenterology at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. These results support the “oxygen hypothesis” of IBD — the idea that increased oxygen in the gut lining can disrupt a person’s microbiome, contributing to disease, researchers said. “This research gives us a clearer picture of what’s happening in the gut at the very start of IBD,” Rimmer said. “Our findings suggest that changes in gut oxygen levels and the migration of bacteria from the mouth to the gut may play a key role in triggering inflammation — and these patterns could pave the way for earlier diagnosis and new treatments for IBD patients.” For the new study, researchers analyzed data from more than 1,700 children and adults across 11 countries who had been recently diagnosed with IBD. The data was drawn from 36 previous studies. Results specifically highlighted the presence of mouth bacterial strains like Granulicatella and Haemophilus in the guts of people with IBD. Treating those bacteria — or preventing them from populating a person’s gut — could help ward off IBD, researchers said. Other new treatments could focus on lowering oxygen levels in the gut, or populating the gut with healthier bacteria, the team added. “This unique study combined significant clinical, scientific and evidence synthesis expertise to identify the unique conditions in the gut at the time of diagnosing this condition,” researcher Morris Gordon , a professor at the University of Lancashire, said in a news release. “This opens up avenues to investigate regarding screening, diagnosis and therapies.” The study appears in the journal Gastroenterology . Sources University of Birmingham, news release, Dec. 23, 2025