Imaging of the suicidal brain in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that has been associated with risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. One hypothesis about what could contribute to this risk, called the “accelerated age hypothesis,” theorizes that several clinical features typically associated with older age that are experienced by individuals with schizophrenia (e.g., increased risk of cognitive impairment, inflammation, oxidative stress, and reduction of telomere length in blood cells) may play a part in increasing risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

With this in mind, Dr. Ali Bani-Fatemi and his team examined DNA from blood samples of adults with schizophrenia who had a history of suicide attempts, as well as of a separate group of adults with schizophrenia with no history of suicide attempts. Dr. Bani-Fatemi found that those who had attempted suicide showed signs of being 10.7 years older biologically (i.e., in their cells) than chronologically (i.e., their age in years). This accelerated aging was evident in both males and females, with males showing slightly more pronounced differences. The findings suggest that the stress and severity of schizophrenia might accelerate aging, increasing suicide risk. Measuring biological age could help identify increased risk for suicide in individuals with schizophrenia who may benefit from specifically tailored treatments that take biological aging into account.

Citation: Jeremian, R., Bani-Fatemi, A., Strauss, J. S., Tasmim, S., Dada, O., Graff-Guerrero, A., Gerretsen, P., & De Luca, V. (2022). Investigation of accelerated epigenetic aging in individuals suffering from schizophrenia in the context of lifetime suicide attempt. Schizophrenia research, 243, 222–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2019.05.023