Via Discovery News, ‘A new gene linked to suicide risk has been discovered… [R]esearchers scanned the genes of brain tissue samples from people who had died by suicide, and compared these genes with those of people who died of other causes. …A genetic mutation in a gene called SKA2, was more common among the people who died by suicide [and] a chemical change, called anepigenetic change, on that same gene was more common among people who committed suicide than in those who died from other causes…

DCI

Next, the researchers examined whether these genetic changes could predict a person’s risk of having suicidal thoughts orattempting suicide. Using blood samples from 325 people, the scientists created a model that took into account whether a person had the SKA2 genetic mutation and the epigenetic change… The model correctly identified 80 percent to 96 percent of people who experienced suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide. It was more accurate among people at severe risk for suicide….

If the findings are confirmed and lead to a blood test for suicide risk, such a test might be used to screen people in psychiatric emergency rooms or to determine how closely a person needs to be monitored for suicide risk, the researcher said.’

However, from my perspective as a clinical psychiatrist working with suicidal patients, this is a meaningless finding. From the universe of those who are at “suicide risk” or have “suicidal thoughts” and would be identified by such a test, those who are at imminent risk constitute a vanishingly small proportion. And we can already identify those at theoretical suicide risk on demographic, historic and clinical grounds.