Predicting Suicide

Possible New Blood Test Could Predict Suicide Risk?

Biomarkers in the blood could indicate suicide risk, researchers found, potentially clearing the way for an objective means of monitoring risk.

While suicide remains a devastating and often mysterious phenomenon, new research suggests that biomarkers in the blood could indicate suicide risk. If the research comes to fruition, a simple blood test could offer an objective prediction of suicidal tendencies, hopefully saving lives, according to the study.

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) built on past research on blood biomarkers that indicate mood disorders to identify a set of blood biomarkers for suicide risk. They then tested groups with high risk of suicide and the blood of those who had already committed suicide, finding that the biomarkers correlated with risk, specifically biomarker SAT1 (spermidien/spermine N1—acetyltransferase 1).

"There are people who will not reveal they are having suicidal thoughts when you ask them, who then commit it and there's nothing you can do about it,” study author Alexander Niculescu III, MD, PhD, associate professor at IUSM said in a statement.Over one million people die from suicide worldwide each year, the researchers noted.

“Psychiatry is really in desperate need of biological markers,” said Edward Short, Phd, professor of medical history and medicine at the University of Toronto. Short said this is a promising development, but noted that it’s not the first biological test to attempt to predict suicide.  The dexamethasone suppression test was used in the 1970s and 1980s, though it fell out of favor as researchers realized it was really only tracking melancholic depression.  These researchers will have to prove their test is more robust, Short said.

The researchers started by studying nine male patients who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. They tested these patients blood while also monitoring their shifts in suicidal thoughts. The biomarkers correlated with increases in suicidal thoughts.

Next, at a local coroner’s office, the researchers identified 9 male subjects who had committed suicide, and tested their blood. The predicted biomarkers were significantly higher in these subjects blood, according to the study, published in Molecular Psychiatry.

The researchers then followed and tested two different groups — 42 men who were bipolar and 46 men with psychosis — and found that not only did elevated levels of the biomarkers indicate future risk of suicide, but the men also had higher biomarker levels if they had a history of hospitalizations due to suicide risk or attempts. This may indicate that the biomarkers predict not only immediate risk, but more long-term risk of suicide, the researchers noted.

The test will need to be performed on individuals who aren’t depressed and don’t have suicide risk, Short noted.

The researchers acknowledged that this is only the first step in properly identifying these biomarkers and possibly creating an objective blood test that would help recognize suicide risk. The subjects were all male and primarily Caucasian, in part because they were working with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis, and so the work needs to be replicated on wider populations. Additionally, focusing on individuals with bipolar disorder and psychosis may represent a uniquely impulsive population, warranting further research.

Article by Susan E Matthews