CSF 5HIAA and personal and family history of suicide in affectively ill patients: a negative study

Personal and family histories of suicidality were gathered in 45 patients who met Research Diagnostic Criteria for major affective disorder (n = 32, bipolar; n = 13, unipolar) and compared to CSF values of 5HIAA obtained by two different assays (n = 20, fluorometric; n = 25, high performance liquid chromatography). In separate analyses of the two assay groups, patients who had made a suicide attempt were not significantly different from those who had not in terms of 5HIAA value or family history of suicidality. Furthermore, in suicide attempters, 5HIAA was unrelated to the severity of the attempt.