Researchers have discovered a series of RNA biomarkers in blood that could be used to develop a test to predict the risk of a person committing suicide.

The research, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, analyzed a large group of male patients from four cohort studies over a three-year period. All patients were diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Psychiatrists and other researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine conducted a series of interviews with the patients.

There was one interview at the baseline of the study, followed by up to three testing visits – when blood was also taken from the patients, every three and six months.

Each testing visit involved the patients being given a psychiatric score using the “Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression-17.” This scale includes a rating for suicidal ideation (SI) to determine level of suicidal feeling. Blood was then taken from the subjects of the study.

The researchers analyzed the blood of participants who reported a dramatic shift from feeling no suicidal thoughts at all, to strong suicidal ideation.

Results of the analysis revealed significant gene differences between the patients who experienced high states of suicidal thinking and the people with low states of suicidal feeling.