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Identifying biomarkers for suicide vulnerability would be helpful for patients with bipolar disorder, with as many as 50% of these patients showing suicidal behaviors and with estimates of death by suicide as high as 19%. Previous studies have linked depression, impulsivity, and suicidality with altered nitric oxide synthase activity, resulting in decreased endothelial nitric oxide production in the brain. Investigators genotyped 536 French patients with bipolar disorder (mean age, 42; 59% female) and 160 healthy controls for polymorphisms of three closely linked genes controlling nitric oxide synthase.
Of 511 patients assessed for suicidality, 224 (44%) had histories of suicidal behavior; 53 (10%) had violent attempts (e.g., gunshot, hangin…