For years, it’s been a controversial side effect of antidepressants: for all the patients helped by the drugs, there was a smaller cohort for whom the beginning of treatment triggered a descent into thoughts of suicide. Doctors can monitor for the side effects, but it’s been a persistent danger, even as antidepressant use has skyrocketed.
A new test being developed by Sundance Diagnostics promises a different tactic. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute isolated 79 genetic markers correlated with an increased risk of antidepressant-induced suicide risk. Taken together, the latest tests show a 91 percent chance of identifying in advance whether antidepressants will trigger suicidal thoughts in a patient taking SSRI-based antidepressants.
Read the full, original story: Genetics may bring out the dark side of antidepressants
