ReviewThe American journal of psychiatry2014
Toward a biosignature for suicide.
Review in The American journal of psychiatry, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 143 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
143 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A direct comparison of theory-driven and machine learning prediction of suicide: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Brain Differences Associated with Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis of Neuroimaging Studies.Scientific reports · 2020Pooled it
- Cytomegalovirus Seropositivity and Suicidal Behavior: A Mini-Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2019Pooled it
- Suicide in Parkinson's disease.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Biological risk factors for suicidal behaviors: a meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2016Pooled it
- The Progression of Lethality Across Multiple Suicide Attempts: A Systematic Review.Archives of suicide research : official journal of the International Academy for Suicide ResearchPooled it
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation frequency effects on suicidal ideation in adolescents with major depressive disorder.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Trial
- Childhood adversity, adulthood adversity and suicidal ideation in Chinese patients with major depressive disorder: in line with stress sensitization.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2022Trial
- Effect of high frequency versus theta-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on suicidality in patients with treatment-resistant depression.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2022Trial
- A secondary analysis of a brief video intervention on suicidal ideation among recent rape victims.Psychological services · 2021Trial
- Magnetic Seizure Therapy for Suicidality in Treatment-Resistant Depression.JAMA network open · 2020Trial
- Employment Status Shapes the Link between Serum Tumor Necrosis Factor and Suicidal Ideation in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome: Evidence from an Independent Clinical Cohort.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Pursuing the elusive biosignature for suicide: a decennial update.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Beyond mental disorders: The role of child maltreatment in childhood suicidal behaviour.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Biological Risk Factors for Suicidal Behavior in Children and Adolescents: A Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Levels of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) are elevated in persons with major depressive disorder who have had a recent suicide attempt.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Patterns and predictors of repeated violent suicide attempts: a retrospective clinical study from an acute trauma care setting.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Suicide in adults within 30 days of discharge from hospital emergency department.Internal and emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- Alterations of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines balance and superoxide dismutase in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of suicide decedents.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Article
83 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveSuicide, a major cause of death worldwide, has distinct biological underpinnings. The authors review and synthesize the research literature on biomarkers of suicide, with the aim of using the findings of these studies to develop a coherent model for the biological diathesis for suicide.
methodThe authors examined studies covering a large range of neurobiological systems implicated in suicide. They provide succinct descriptions of each system to provide a context for interpreting the meaning of findings in suicide.
resultsSeveral lines of evidence implicate dysregulation in stress response systems, especially the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, as a diathesis for suicide. Additional findings related to neuroinflammatory indices, glutamatergic function, and neuronal plasticity at the cellular and circuitry level may reflect downstream effects of such dysregulation. Whether serotonergic abnormalities observed in individuals who have died by suicide are independent of stress response abnormalities is an unresolved question.
conclusionsThe most compelling biomarkers for suicide are linked to altered stress responses and their downstream effects, and to abnormalities in the serotonergic system. Studying these systems in parallel and in the same populations may elucidate the role of each and their interplay, possibly leading to identification of new treatment targets and biological predictors.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.