Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul-Sep;12(3):275-281.
doi: 10.4183/aeb.2016.275.

PLATELET SEROTONIN AS BIOMARKER FOR ASSESSING SUICIDAL BEHAVIOUR IN PATIENTS WITH BIPOLAR I DISORDER

A Giurgiuca  1 , S Schipor  2 , A Caragheorgheopol  2 , A Crasan  3 , E Postolache  4 , C Tudose  1 , D Prelipceanu  1 , D Cozman  5
Affiliations

PLATELET SEROTONIN AS BIOMARKER FOR ASSESSING SUICIDAL BEHAVIOUR IN PATIENTS WITH BIPOLAR I DISORDER

A Giurgiuca et al. Acta Endocrinol (Buchar). 2016 Jul-Sep.

Abstract

Context: Suicide is a global public health issue. Bipolar disorder (BPD) has the highest suicide risk among individuals suffering from mental disorders. Serotoninergic dysfunctions have been linked to suicidal behaviour and platelet serotonin is recognised as a reliable index for the presynaptic serotonin activity.

Objective: Our aim was to assess whether alterations occur in platelet serotonin concentrations in BPD type I in respect to suicide attempters compared with non-attempters.

Design: This was a cross-sectional, observational study.

Subjects and methods: Plasma platelet serotonin concentrations were measured using ELISA technique in 71 BPD I patients. The participants were assigned into 3 groups (non-attempters, low lethality and high lethality suicide attempters), according to the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale. Socio-demographical and clinical data was obtained by using MINI 6.0 and a semi-structured questionnaire designed specifically for this research.

Results: Our study showed significant lower levels of platelet serotonin in suicide attempters compared with non-attempters (p = 0.030) and in high-lethality attempters compared with low-lethality attempters (p = 0.015). The study recorded a higher number of total lifetime and lifetime depressive episodes for suicide attempters with BPD I.

Conclusions: Our results subscribe to the importance of platelet serotonin as a reliable biomarker in suicide risk assessment.

Keywords: lethality; platelet serotonin; serotonin; suicidal behaviour; suicide; suicide attempts.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest concerning this article.

References

    1. Vol. 23. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2014. Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative.
    1. Nock MK, Borges G, Bromet EJ, Alonso J, Angermeyer M, Beautrais A, Bruffaerts R, Chiu WT, de Girolamo G, Gluzman S, de Graaf R, Gureje O, Haro JM, Huang Y, Karam E, Kessler RC, Lepine JP, Levinson D, Medina-Mora ME, Ono Y, Posada-Villa J, Williams D. Cross-national prevalence and risk factors for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts. Br J Psychiatry. 2008;192(2):98–105. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Harris EC, Barraclough B. Suicide as an outcome for mental disorders. A meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry. 1997;170(3):205–228. - PubMed
    1. Maris RW, Berman AL, Silverman MM, Bongar BM. New York: Guilford Press; 2000. Comprehensive textbook of suicidology.
    1. Arsenault-Lapierre G, Kim C, Turecki G. Psychiatric diagnoses in 3275 suicides: a metaanalysis. BMC Psychiatry. 2004;4:37. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources