Studies support genetic link to suicide
Swiss and French scientists have found a genetic mutation, which appears to increase significantly the likelihood of a person committing suicide.
Researchers from psychiatric hospitals in Geneva, Montpellier and Nîmes said the altered gene disrupted the brain’s ability to absorb the chemical serotonin, which regulates mood and anxiety levels.
It is well known that low levels of serotonin can lead to depression, eating disorders and other mental illnesses.
“These genetic data are consistent with a correlation between low serotonin uptake activity and violent behaviour, including violent suicidal behaviour,” said the scientists in the latest issue of the bi-monthly journal, Molecular Psychiatry.
The researchers compared 51 people who had attempted suicide with 139 comparable subjects who had not. They found that one mutation in the serotonin transporter gene increased a person’s chances of attempting suicide more than three and a half times.
Another less potent mutation in the same gene almost doubled a person’s risk.
Some 1,500 people commit suicide in Switzerland every year and about three times as many men as women.
The reasons people take their own lives remain a mystery, but scientists believe suicides are influenced as much by sociological factors as by psychological and genetic ones.
Suicide rates in Europe are highest in Hungary, Slovenia and Finland and low in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.