Blood Tests can Identify People with Suicidal Tendencies: Study

A new blood test helps screen a person's likelihood of committing suicide, finds a study.

Experts at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine developed a form of blood test that detects chemical variations in the gene 'SKA2', regulating brain reactions in the presence of stress hormones.

This can help predict suicidal behaviors and tendencies resulting from pressures of everyday life and mental illnesses. In the first part of their trial, researchers examined mutations in SKA2 gene from brain samples of healthy individuals and those with mental problems who died by committing suicide.

Their analysis revealed participants who died committing suicides had lesser SKA2 levels and the genetic mutations involved adding more chemicals from the methyl group. This process, called methylation, was found in high levels in the brain samples of people who killed themselves.

The second part of the experiment included 325 people enrolled in the Johns Hopkins Center for Prevention Research Study whose blood samples were collected to note changes in SKA2. The methylation process in SKA2 increased among those who exhibited suicidal behavior. This method had an accuracy rate of 80 percent in identifying subjects who were contemplating suicide and 90 percent for those were likely to commit suicide.

The prefrontal cortex of brain is related to controlling negative emotions and impulsive behavior. The SKA4 inhibits the release of cortisols, a stress hormone in very high amounts that drives people to take extreme decisions and harm themselves.  

"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," said Zachary Kaminsky, study author and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a 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.

The authors believe these tests can be widely employed to assess a person's risk rate of committing suicide and treat mental conditions.         

"We need to study this in a larger sample but we believe that we might be able to monitor the blood to identify those at risk of suicide," adds Kaminsky.

More information is available online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.