People who experience suicidal ideation (think about ending their life) do not always share these thoughts for several reasons; they may fear rejection, being hospitalized, being thought “crazy,” or being thought of as weak.
However, a person’s contemplation of suicide may eventually be revealed through a blood test.
While such a blood test may save people’s lives, it will also give doctors information that an individual may prefer to keep private. No doubt, such a diagnostic breakthrough will bring some controversy with it, but the possibility is becoming more reality than science fiction.
The Search for Clues
Researchers at Indiana University in Indianapolis have isolated some biomarkers, or molecular indicators, that increase the accuracy of assessing individuals at high risk for suicidal behavior.
- Blood was drawn from a group of men with bipolar disorder who went from having no thoughts of suicide to testing at high risk for suicide. Their blood tests showed 41 potential biomarkers for increased suicidal ideation.
- These 41 indicators were then compared to those found in the blood samples of nine males diagnosed with bipolar disorder who had recently committed suicide. This comparison yielded 13 potential biomarkers. Statistical analysis reduced viable biomarkers down to six.
- Four of those final six biomarkers were elevated in 42 males with bipolar disorder and in 46 men diagnosed with schizophrenia who had attempted suicide and been hospitalized.
- In a long-term study, those four indicators, when used in conjunction with measures for mental state and mood, raised the prediction accuracy for future hospitalizations related to suicide from 65 percent to 80 percent.
These results still need to be validated by running studies involving larger groups of individuals, though researcher Alexander Niculescu reports that he and his colleagues used multi-step, rigorous methods in this study to tease out any false positives.
Niculescu indicates his team’s next goal is to look at the distribution of these biomarkers in the general population and in other types of at-risk populations, such as people with clinical depression or high stress levels and those experiencing bereavement.
“Suicide is not just related to mental illness,” said Niculescu. “It’s a very complex behavior.”
Source: The Scientist
