engleski

Suicide attempts, comorbid depression and platelet serotonin in alcohol dependence

The risk of suicide in patients with alcoholism increases if alcoholism is related to comorbid depression. Both alcoholism and suicidal behaviour are associated with reduced serotonin (5-HT) function. Since suicide is enormous public health problem worldwide, to prevent suicidal attempts, it is important to find peripheral marker of suicidal behaviour. The aim of this study was to assess whether altered platelet 5-HT concentration is associated with suicide attempts in alcoholism. Platelet 5-HT concentration was evaluated in 327 male and 87 female ethnically homogenous medication-free patients with alcoholism, subdivided according to the presence or absence of comorbid depression, and/or suicidal behaviour, and in 425 male and 156 female healthy control (non-suicidal) subjects. Suicide attempts were assessed according to the score 4 on the item 3 from the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, and according to the structured psychiatric interview about suicidal attempts during lifetime. Patients with alcoholism had significantly lower platelet 5-HT concentration than healthy subjects, and healthy women and female patients with alcoholism had significantly lower platelet 5-HT concentration than the corresponding male subjects. Multifactor analyses of variance revealed the significant effects of sex, alcoholism, comorbid depression, but the lack of significant effects of suicide attempts, and no interactions between variables, on platelet 5-HT concentration. Platelet 5-HT concentration did not differ significantly between suicidal compared to non-suicidal patients with alcoholism. Our results did not confirm the association between platelet 5-HT concentration and suicide attempts in patients with alcoholism.

alcoholism; comorbid depression; male and female subjects; platelet serotonin concentration; suicide attempts

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