Projects / Programmes
Adherence to psychotropic medications, pharmacogenomics, toxicology and polygenic risk for suicide
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 3.09.00 |
Medical sciences |
Psychiatry |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 3.02 |
Medical and Health Sciences |
Clinical medicine |
suicide, depressive disorder, antidepressants, adherence, pharmacogenetics, genetic biomarkers, genome-wide association study
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
December 9, 2023;
A3 for period
2017-2021
Data for ARIS tenders (
04.04.2019 – Programme tender,
archive
)
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
290 |
8,785 |
8,160 |
28.14 |
| Scopus |
272 |
10,826 |
10,137 |
37.27 |
Researchers (12)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Suicidal behaviour is a complex behavioral phenomenon and locally and globally major public health, economic and social burden. Presence of psychiatric disorder(s) and suicide attempt substantially influences overall risk and temporality for completed suicide. Due to new insights into the pathophysiology of depression a range of new drugs have been developed that are not proven to be more effective than standard therapy. Although the role of heredity in the antidepressant response is not known, it does seem to run in families, suggesting a genetic component. Resolution on the National Mental Health Program 2018-2028 (ReNMHP) is the first strategic document in Slovenia that comprehensively addresses the field of mental health care and highlights suicide as a major public health problem. Among the five key specific objectives of suicide prevention is early identification and providing access to help and treatment for those at risk of suicide. The overall aim of the proposed research is to investigate possible associations between adherence to treatment with prescribed psychotropic medications and suicide and systematic investigation of fenotype and genotype of suicide victims in the Slovenian population. The purpose of the research is to develop a predictive algorithm of adherence with prescribed psychotropic drugs based on the way of managing data on prescribed drugs in Slovenia involving the metabolic status of the individual for the each prescribed psychotropic drug and results of postmortem toxicological measurements as confirmation of adherence to prescribed drugs. The second goal is to genotype the entire genome of the phenotypically well-defined sample of suicide victims. We anticipate that we could identify significant differences in single nucleotide polymorphisms of genes in fenotypically well-defined groups of suicide completers, rather than among all suicide completers and control group. The genetic profile of depressed suicide victims, could be better defined than other genetic profiles of suicidal behavior. Genetic factors of suicidal behaviour could be the result of small effects of genetic variations in many genes, which could have a direct impact on the individual's impulsivity and aggressiveness. The proposed research could also help to examine connection of the use of reuptake inhibitors of monoamines, specially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, to the risk for violent suicide. Discovery of a set of new polygenic biomarkers associated with suicide and mental disorders means a set of novel potential risk indicators, which could contribute to earlier identification of endangered individuals based on polygenic risk assessment of the onset of suicidal behaviour. One of the parallel goals of the research is also the longitudinal retrospective-prospective monitoring of epidemic Covid-19 disease on the suicide. The ultimate goal is to provide new knowledge to promote a better understanding of how pharmacotherapy can be improved in groups at risk for suicide and the role of heredity in responding to antidepressant therapy. This could contribute to the creation of new conceptual guidelines in the field of prevention and clinical strategies to assess and reduce the risk of suicidal behavior and thereby to the realization of the set of goals of the ReNMHP connected with suicidal behaviour. In this way, we could also reduce the cost of treating mental disorders, relieve the health fund and social burden due to the premature death of suicide victims.
