- Intermediate Phenotypes in Suicidal Behavior: Focus on Personality

2012 ◽  
pp. 382-407
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Intermediate Phenotypes

Genetics of impulsivity, anger, and aggression as risk factors for suicidal behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. 343-365
Author(s):  
Dan Rujescu ◽  
Ina Giegling
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Complex Trait ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Psychiatric History ◽  
Major Health Problem ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Intermediate Phenotypes

Suicidal behavior is a major health problem causing more than 1 million deaths worldwide each year. The risk of suicide-related behavior is supposed to be determined by a complex interplay of sociocultural factors, psychiatric history, personality traits, and genetic as well as neurobiological vulnerability. Personality traits like impulsivity, anger or aggression are valuable intermediate phenotypes in the search for the genetics of such a complex trait. This review will summarize genetic factors of phenotypes as risk factors for suicidal behavior. There is hope that simpler, quantifiable measures will be more elementary compared to clinical phenotypes. It is assumed that the number of genes required to produce variations in these traits may be fewer than those involved in producing a diagnostic entity. Further understanding of the genetics and pathophysiology of suicidal behavior is therefore very important.

scholarly journals Toxoplasma gondii, Suicidal Behavior, and Intermediate Phenotypes for Suicidal Behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodor T. Postolache ◽  
Abhishek Wadhawan ◽  
Dan Rujescu ◽  
Andrew J. Hoisington ◽  
Aline Dagdag ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Mood Disorders ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Distinct Subgroup ◽  
Intermediate Phenotypes ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Trait Impulsivity

Within the general literature on infections and suicidal behavior, studies on Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) occupy a central position. This is related to the parasite's neurotropism, high prevalence of chronic infection, as well as specific and non-specific behavioral alterations in rodents that lead to increased risk taking, which are recapitulated in humans by T. gondii's associations with suicidal behavior, as well as trait impulsivity and aggression, mental illness and traffic accidents. This paper is a detailed review of the associations between T. gondii serology and suicidal behavior, a field of study that started 15 years ago with our publication of associations between T. gondii IgG serology and suicidal behavior in persons with mood disorders. This “legacy” article presents, chronologically, our primary studies in individuals with mood disorders and schizophrenia in Germany, recent attempters in Sweden, and in a large cohort of mothers in Denmark. Then, it reviews findings from all three meta-analyses published to date, confirming our reported associations and overall consistent in effect size [ranging between 39 and 57% elevation of odds of suicide attempt in T. gondii immunoglobulin (IgG) positives]. Finally, the article introduces certain links between T. gondii and biomarkers previously associated with suicidal behavior (kynurenines, phenylalanine/tyrosine), intermediate phenotypes of suicidal behavior (impulsivity, aggression) and state-dependent suicide risk factors (hopelessness/dysphoria, sleep impairment). In sum, an abundance of evidence supports a positive link between suicide attempts (but not suicidal ideation) and T. gondii IgG (but not IgM) seropositivity and serointensity. Trait impulsivity and aggression, endophenotypes of suicidal behavior have also been positively associated with T. gondii seropositivity in both the psychiatrically healthy as well as in patients with Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Yet, causality has not been demonstrated. Thus, randomized interventional studies are necessary to advance causal inferences and, if causality is confirmed, to provide hope that an etiological treatment for a distinct subgroup of individuals at an increased risk for suicide could emerge.

scholarly journals Genetics of Intermediate Phenotypes in Suicidal Behavor - Focus on Aggression

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
D. Rujescu ◽  
A. Hartmann ◽  
B. Schneider ◽  
A. Thalmeier ◽  
A. Schnabel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Impulsive Behavior ◽  
Genetic Studies ◽  
Intermediate Phenotypes ◽  
Suicide Completers ◽  
Validation Experiments

Family and twin studies point towards a partial heritability of suicidal behavior. We investigated the role of a comprehensive set of genes in this behavior. Their selection was driven by results from post mortem and genetic studies. 250 suicide attempters with various psychiatric disorders were compared with 2200 volunteers which were randomly selected from the general population. All subjects were administered standard psychiatric interviews including SCID as well as self-report questionnaires for anger-related traits. Especially, aggressive-impulsive behavior has been studied and associations with these intermediate phenotypes will be presented.Additionally a large-scale gene expression analysis using cDNA-microarrays to identify new candidate-genes for suicide was conducted. We found several genes to be differentially expressed in the orbitofrontal cortex of suicide completers. Cross-validation experiments using quantitative RT-PCR validated a few genes so far. These genes have been genotyped in our patients and controls and associations with suicidal behavior and intermediate phenotypes, like aggression and impulsivity will be presented.

Suicidal Behavior in German Adolescents

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana Straub ◽  
Ferdinand Keller ◽  
Nina Sproeber ◽  
Michael G. Koelch ◽  
Paul L. Plener
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Present Sample ◽  
Manic Symptoms ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Adolescent Sample ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sum Scores

Objective: Research in adults has identified an association between bipolar disorder and suicidal behavior. This relationship, however, has been insufficiently investigated in adolescents to date. Methods: 1,117 adolescents from 13 German schools (mean age = 14.83, SD = .63; 52.7% females) completed an extended German version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), which assesses depressive and manic symptoms during the last week, as well as the Self-Harm Behavior Questionnaire (SHBQ) for the assessment of lifetime suicidal behavior. Results: In the present sample 39.4% of the girls and 23.1% of the boys reported lifetime suicidal thoughts and 7.1% of the girls as well as 3.9% of the boys a lifetime history of suicide attempts. 18.7% of the adolescent sample revealed elevated symptoms of depression and 9% elevated levels of mania symptoms. Elevated sum scores of depression and mania were associated with a higher number of suicidal ideations and suicide attempts. A block-wise regression analysis revealed that sum scores of depression and mania predicted suicidal ideations best. Concerning suicide attempts, the best predictors were age as well as depression and mania sum scores. Conclusions: Suicidal behavior was reported more often when adolescents demonstrate symptoms of mania as well as symptoms of depression than when they demonstrate only depressive symptoms. The presence of bipolar symptoms in adolescents should alert clinicians to the heightened possibility of suicidal behavior.

Suicidal Behavior in Black South Africans

Crisis ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourens Schlebusch ◽  
Naseema B.M. Vawda ◽  
Brenda A. Bosch
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
To Come

Summary: In the past suicidal behavior among Black South Africans has been largely underresearched. Earlier studies among the other main ethnic groups in the country showed suicidal behavior in those groups to be a serious problem. This article briefly reviews some of the more recent research on suicidal behavior in Black South Africans. The results indicate an apparent increase in suicidal behavior in this group. Several explanations are offered for the change in suicidal behavior in the reported clinical populations. This includes past difficulties for all South Africans to access health care facilities in the Apartheid (legal racial separation) era, and present difficulties of post-Apartheid transformation the South African society is undergoing, as the people struggle to come to terms with the deleterious effects of the former South African racial policies, related socio-cultural, socio-economic, and other pressures.

Emergency Department Admission and Mortality Rate for Suicidal Behavior

Crisis ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 406-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raimondo Maria Pavarin ◽  
Angelo Fioritti ◽  
Francesca Fontana ◽  
Silvia Marani ◽  
Alessandra Paparelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Mortality Risk ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Attempted Suicide ◽  
Cox Model ◽  
Emergency Department Admission ◽  
Completed Suicide

Background: The international literature reports that for every completed suicide there are between 8 and 22 visits to an Emergency Department (ED) for attempted suicide/suicidal behavior. Aims: To describe the characteristics of admission to emergency departments (EDs) for suicide-related presenting complaints in the metropolitan area of Bologna; to estimate the risk for all-cause mortality and for suicide; to identify the profiles of subjects most at risk. Method: Follow-up of patients admitted to the EDs of the metropolitan area of Bologna between January 2004 and December 2010 for attempted suicide. A Cox model was used to evaluate the association between sociodemographic variables and the general mortality risk. Results: We identified 505 cases of attempted suicide, which were more frequent for female subjects, over the weekend, and at night (8:00 p.m./8:00 a.m.). The most used suicide methods were psychotropic drugs, sharp or blunt objects, and jumping from high places. In this cohort, 3.6% of subjects completed suicide (4.5% of males vs. 2.9% of females), 2.3% within 1 year of the start of follow-up. The most common causes of death were drug use and hanging. In the multivariate analysis, those who used illicit drugs 24 hr prior to admission to the ED (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.46, 95% CI = 1.23–9.73) and patients who refused the treatment (HR = 6.74, 95% CI = 1.86–24.40) showed an increased mortality risk for suicide. Conclusion: Deliberate self-harm patients presenting to the ED who refuse treatment represent a specific target group for setting up dedicated prevention schemes.

Self-Report vs. Computerized Measures of Impulsivity as a Correlate of Suicidal Behavior

Crisis ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Netta Horesh
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Attention Deficit Disorder ◽  
Impulse Control ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Adolescent Suicide ◽  
Continuous Performance Test ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
Computerized Measures ◽  
Adolescent Suicide Attempters

Objectives: To compare the use of a self-report form of impulsivity versus a computerized test of impulsivity in the assessment of suicidal adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Methods: Sixty consecutive admissions to an adolescent in patient unit were examined. The severity of suicidal behavior was measured with the Childhood Suicide Potential Scale (CSPS), and impulse control was measured with the self report Plutchik Impulse Control Scale (ICS) and with the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), a continuous performance test (CPT). The TOVA is used to diagnose adolescents with attention deficit disorder. Results: There was a significant but low correlation between the two measures of impulsivity. Only the TOVA commission and omission errors differentiated between adolescent suicide attempters and nonattempters. Conclusions: Computerized measures of impulsivity may be a useful way to measure impulsivity in adolescent suicide attempters. Impulsivity appears to play a small role only in nondepressed suicidal adolescents, especially boys.

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