TYROSINE-HYDROXYLASE ALLELIC DISTRIBUTION IN SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS

A tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism in the first intron of the tyros ine hydroxylase (TH) locus was examined in a group of 118 adult suicid e attempters and 78 control subjects. The suicide attempters were diag nosed according to DSM-III-R criteria at the index attempt and represe nted the following diagnoses: major depression (18), dysthymia (13), a nxiety disorders (16), adjustment disorders (29), psychoactive substan ce abuse disorders (27) and psychotic disorders (15). A significant va riation in the prevalence of carriers of the TH-K3 allele (high for su icide attempters with adjustment disorders, P = 0.0023) and a tendency toward a variation of the TH-K1 allele (low among all suicide attempt ers, P = 0.046) was observed. In light of other data the variation of TH-KI and TH-K3 suggests that these alleles may reflect predisposition for a common phenotype with altered vulnerability for psychiatric dis orders. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.