A model for suicide risk quantification

Abstract

Introduction. Depression and suicidal behaviour represent major public health issuss. Although they are intensely studied, few literature works focus on a common endophenotype, composed of genetic and psychological aspects of these disorders. Materials and method. One hundred sixty-seven patients were recruited for this transversal study, out of which 125 had a clinical diagnosis of unipolar or bipolar depression, with or without suicide attempt, and 42 were healthy subjects. The participants were applied psyhological scales (BIS-11, MADRS, Paykel, TCI), cognitive tests (Cog Test), and biological samples were obtained for genetic determinations. Genetic tests comprise determinations realised using PCR method – for 5-HTTLPR polimorphism (L/S variant), COMT (Val/Met), BDNF (Val/Met), and rtPCR for ApoE, GPHN and GRID2 genes, respectively. Discussions and conclusions. Although researchers suppose that a suicide phenotype exists, which includes the ideation, the plan and the suicide attempt, there are few studies that highlight these traits. The goal of the present paper is to elaborate a model of quantification for the suicide risk, based on personality traits, and genetic and clinical markers. Another goal is to identify the genes responsible for depression vulnerability in a Romanian population, in subjects diagnosed with uni- or bipolar depression, with or without previous suicidal attempts.