Citation

Courtet P, Franc N, Picot MC, Jaussent I, Jollant F, Guillaume S, Malafosse A. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 75.

Affiliation

CHU Montpellier, Service de Psychologie Medicale et Psychiatrie, Hospital Lapeyronie, 34295 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. p-courtet@chu-montpellier.fr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16963983

Abstract

The vulnerability to suicidal behaviour involves genetic as well as environmental factors. Birth season has been involved in the neurodevelopmental model of psychiatric disorders. Recent data are emerging to suggest the role of perinatal factors and birth season in the suicidal risk. We aim to investigate the effect of birth season on suicidal risk, and its interaction with the serotonin transporter gene associated with vulnerability to suicidal behaviour. Method: We included 974 suicide attempters and 536 controls. The suicide attempts (SA) characteristics considered were the violence of the means used, the lethality, and the lifetime number of attempts. The patients have been genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR. Results: We did not find any effect of the birth season on the risk of SA. However, suicide attempters born from February to April were at higher risk of serious SA. This effect was more pronounced in first attempters of male gender. When stratifying for the 5-HTTLPR genotypes, this association was only reported for males carrying the S allele. Conclusion: Our results suggest an interaction between the season of birth and the expression of the serotonin transporter gene, and that season of birth is a confounding variable when investigating the role of the genetic factors in susceptibility to SA.

Language: en