Certain gene-based chemical changes seem to accompany suicidal behavior, study finds. Those who committed suicide had significantly lower levels of the gene SKA2, which helps block negative thoughts.
Clues to whether a person is at risk for suicide could lie in a simple blood test. Chemical changes to a gene involved in the brain's response to stress hormones may help spur suicidal thoughts and behaviors, the study's authors explained. Spotting those changes in a blood sample might help alert doctors to a patient's risk for suicide, they said.
"Suicide is a major preventable public health problem, but we have been stymied in our prevention efforts because we have no consistent way to predict those who are at increased risk of killing themselves," study lead researcher Zachary Kaminsky, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a university news release.
"With a test like ours, we may be able to stem suicide rates by identifying those people and intervening early enough to head off a catastrophe," he said.