Suicide Blood Tests: Blood Markers May Predict Suicide Risk?
New research suggests that blood tests could possibly be used to predict suicide risk.
A new study that analyzes blood biomarkers, suggests that blood tests might be an accurate predictor of possible mood disorders. If true, taking a simple blood test could help to save countless of lives say researchers.
The study, conducted at the Indiana University School of Medicine, involves building on research already collected about blood markers. In the new study however, researchers took a closer look at markers that could signal a possible suicide risk. The data was then compared to blood markers from people who have attempted or successfully committed suicide.
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According to researchers, over one million people die from suicide worldwide each year. If blood tests could help to identify people prone to the risk of suicide, but unlikely to speak about their thoughts, lives could be saved.
"Psychiatry is really in desperate need of biological markers," Edward Short, Phd, professor of medical history and medicine at the University of Toronto, said according to EveryDayHealth.com.
In the first part of research, the blood markers of nine male subjects were tested against the researchers' predicted markers for suicide risk. In each of the men, researchers discovered those markers were at elevated levels. A second group was then tested, involving 42 men who were bipolar and 46 men with psychosis. The target blood markers in these men were also at elevated levels the study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, revealed.
Further research will still have to be conducted on those who do not have suicidal tendencies, Short noted. Research on a wider population and on those who have other mood disorders would also have to be conducted. Results of the study come just after the deaths of at least two known stars have been linked to suicide. Former Disney actor Lee Thompson Young, 29, was found dead of apparent suicide earlier this week. Last week, former "Bachelor" contestant Gia Allemand also allegedly committed suicide.
