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ABSTRACT FROM: Oquendo MA, Galfalvy H, Sullivan GM, et al. Positron emission tomographic imaging of the serotonergic system and prediction of risk and lethality of future suicidal behavior. JAMA Psychiatry 2016;73:1048–55.
What is already known on this topic
Each year, suicide ends an estimated 800 000 lives worldwide.1 Thus, identifying risk factors of future suicidal behaviour is of great importance. Accumulating evidence for the last 40 years have linked suicide to alterations in the central serotonergic system,2 but prospective studies predicting future suicidal behaviour from brain serotonin measures are lacking.
Methods of the study
Brain serotonin 1A (n=100) and serotonin transporter (n=50) binding potentials were investigated in vivo in patients with major depressive disorder using positron emission tomography (PET) with the radiotracers [11C]WAY100635 and [11C]DASB, respectively. The patients scored >15 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (17-item), indicating at least moderate severity …
Footnotes
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.