CYP2D6 ultra-rapid metabolizer phenotype not associated with attempted suicide in a large sample of psychiatric inpatients

Suicide remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide [1], including the USA, where self-harm is responsible for more than 41,000 deaths annually and is the tenth leading cause of mortality [2]. Moreover, despite a fivefold increase in antidepressant use in the USA over the past 25 years [3], suicide incidence continues to increase [4], in parallel with global trends driven largely by developing and middle-income countries [5]. Given this public health need, the search for molecular and/or genetic biomarkers with potential clinical utility to predict suicide risk has generated volumes of possibilities [6] but relatively little translatable consensus. One such candidate locus has been the cytochrome...