PET imaging serotonin biomarker may predict suicide risk

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, a suicide occurs every 13 minutes in the US. While there were more than 41,000 known suicides in 2013, an additional 1.3 million adults had attempted suicide in the previous year, and 2.7 million people made a plan to do so. There is a clear need for methods to help identify individuals at risk of suicide, and certain biomarkers could aid in such efforts. Using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, a study has explored whether serotonin binding potential predicts future suicide attempts and ideation, as well as intent and lethality of suicidal behavior. Read more.