"Suicide is one of the greatest public health challenges in the United States and worldwide, with nearly 50,000 annual deaths attributed to it in the US alone. That means someone dies by suicide at a rate of every 11 minutes in the United States, and the rate has overall been rising significantly over the past 25 years. Though many psychological and socioeconomic risk factors continue to be identified, physiological correlates have been harder to come by."
"In this new study, which involved a collaboration between Columbia University and McGill University, researchers discovered that SGK1 was particularly high in the brains of depressed adults who had died by suicide, as compared to those who had died of natural causes. Moreover, the highest levels of SGK1 were found in those who had also experienced high levels of trauma and adversity in childhood - up to twice as high as those who had not had early trauma but had still died of suicide."
Nearly 50,000 annual deaths by suicide occur in the United States, with rates rising over the past 25 years. A stress-related protein, Serum and Glucocorticoid-regulated Kinase 1 (SGK1), was identified at higher levels in the hippocampus of depressed adults who died by suicide compared with those who died of natural causes. The highest SGK1 levels appeared in individuals who experienced significant childhood trauma, up to twice the levels of those without early trauma. Computational analysis linked SGK1 to depression severity and indicated that SGK1 moderates the relationship between early childhood adversity and suicide risk. SGK1-targeting medications may benefit depressed people with early trauma.
Read at Psychology Today
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