Rufino KA, Goli P, Patriquin MA, Kosten TR, Nielsen DA, Salas R. Val/Met BDNF as a genetic risk for a false sense of security in post-discharge suicide risk.
J Affect Disord 2024;
354:98-103. [PMID:
38447916 DOI:
10.1016/j.jad.2024.03.001]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The time after discharge from psychiatric inpatient care is one of the most dangerous periods in terms of suicide risk. Predicting who is at higher risk could help with resource allocation to assure patients at high risk of suicide attempts are most closely followed. We previously showed that inpatients who improve their suicide ideation levels faster while in inpatient treatment are the ones with highest rates of post-discharge suicide. Here, we studied the possible genetic underpinnings associated with such risk.
METHOD
We recorded the slope of suicide ideation recovery of 710 psychiatric inpatients from which we studied two genetic variants likely associated with suicide risk: The serotonin transporter variant 5-HTTLPR, and the BDNF gene variant Val66Met.
RESULTS
We found that inpatients carrying the BDNF Met variant (hypothesized as conferring higher suicide risk) improved their suicide ideation scores faster than Val/Val carrying inpatients. No significant association was found for 5-HTTLPR.
LIMITATIONS
The present sample was genetically homogenous, and future research should replicate these findings on a more diverse sample.
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we found a paradoxical result: Carrying the BDNF Met variant allows inpatients to improve faster, which was shown to confer higher risk at the post-discharge period. This may explain some inconsistencies in the literature in terms of the role of BDNF in suicide ideation and attempts.
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