Serotonergic 5HTTLPR/rs25531 s ‐allele homozygosity associates with violent suicides in male citalopram users

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the genetic variants associated with decreased citalopram efficiency, 5HTTLPR/rs25531, and increased impulsive behavior, MAOA‐uVNTR and HTR2B Q20*, are more frequent among citalopram users committing suicide than among the citalopram users in general. Also the effect of alcohol was evaluated. The study population comprised 349 suicide victims (184 males and 165 females). Based on the suicide method used, cases were divided into two groups; violent (88 males and 49 females) and non‐violent (96 males and 116 females). The control group (284; 159 males and 125 females) consisted of citalopram users who died of causes other than suicide. We found that male citalopram users with low functioning s/s genotype of 5HTTLPR/rs25531 were in increased risk to commit violent suicide (OR 2.50, 95%CI 1.15–5.42, p = 0.020). Surprisingly, high blood alcohol concentration was observed to be a risk factor only in non‐violent suicides (both males and females), but not in violent ones. No association between suicides and MAOA‐uVNTR and HTR2B Q20*, which have been previously connected to violent and impulsive behavior, was detected.
Source: American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research