Context. Suicide is a global public health issue. Bipolar disorder (BPD) has the highest suicide risk among individuals suffering from mental disorders. Serotoninergic dysfunctions have been linked to suicidal behaviour and platelet serotonin is recognised as a reliable index for the presynaptic serotonin activity.Objective. Our aim was to assess whether alterations occur in platelet serotonin concentrations in BPD type I in respect to suicide attempters compared with nonattempters.Design. This was a cross-sectional, observational study. Subjects and Methods. Plasma platelet serotonin concentrations were measured using ELISA technique in 71 BPD I patients. The participants were assigned into 3 groups (non-attempters, low lethality and high lethality suicide attempters), according to the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale. Socio-demographical and clinical data was obtained by using MINI 6.0 and a semi-structured questionnaire designed specifically for this research.Results. Our study showed significant lower levels of platelet serotonin in suicide attempters compared with non-attempters (p = 0.030) and in high-lethality attempters compared with low-lethality attempters (p = 0.015). The study recorded a higher number of total lifetime and lifetime depressive episodes for suicide attempters with BPD I.Conclusions. Our results subscribe to the importance of platelet serotonin as a reliable biomarker in suicide risk assessment.
This study examined the validity of subjective clinical prognosis (SCP), a commonly used clinical tool, in first episode psychosis patients included in the European First Episode Schizophrenia Trial (EUFEST) study.Patients and Methods: The study comprised 455 patients from the EUFEST trial (mean age 25.92, SD=5.45; 188 (41.31%) women, 267 (58.69%) men). SCP was classified into three mutually exclusive groups: "good prognosis" (GP) (n=265), "average prognosis" (AP) (n=131), and "poor prognosis" (PP) (n=59). The validity of the SCP was assessed by investigating the differences between the SCP groups and completer or responder status of the patients, during 1 year of the trial. Results: The proportion of completers was significantly higher in the GP group (64.4%) compared to the AP group (25.6%) (OR=1.62, 95% CI=1.062-2.476, p<0.031) and the PP group (10%) (OR=2.17, 95% CI=1.226-3.853, p<0.009) throughout the whole duration of the trial. In what concerns responsiveness, a significantly higher number of responders were registered in the GP group compared to the AP and the PP groups in the first three months of treatment, but this outcome did not persist afterwards.
Conclusion:In terms of its predictive value at first episode schizophrenic patients, SCP seems to be reliable for treatment completion, but has a limited utility in what concerns responsiveness to treatment. This finding suggests the necessity of creating a prediction model potentially including, besides SCP, other measurement-based variables.
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