A new study is set to examine the impact biological factors may have on suicidal behaviour. 

The causes of suicidal behaviour - including thoughts about suicide, attempts and death - are complex and can be biological as well as social and cultural.

However, the contribution of biological factors to the risk of suicide and related behaviours – as well as their interaction with other non-biological risk factors – is not currently well-understood.

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There were 792 probable suicides in Scotland in 2023, up 30 on the previous year. 

Men are three times more likely than women to die by suicide. 

Researchers from Glasgow University are now set to undertake two new PhD projects to better understand the impact that biological factors may have on suicidal behaviour.

The Canmore Trust, a suicide prevention charity, is providing £150,000 for two PhD studentship positions within the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences to help undertake this work, which will begin in 2025.

In one project, researchers will explore the potential relationship between vitamin D and suicidal behaviour.

Seasonal and geographic patterns in suicidal behaviour have long been recognised, with increased suicidal behaviour observed in northern latitudes, such as Scotland and Scandinavia.

This observation has led to interest in the idea that vitamin D may play a role in impacting suicidal behaviours, as the main source of vitamin D is sunlight.

This new research project will aim to enhance understanding of the role vitamin D may play in suicidal behaviour, by combining and analysing a range of biological, social and environmental data.

(Image: NRS) Researchers – Dr Rona Strawbridge, Dr Claire Niedzwiedz and Dr Heather McClelland – hope this work will help to inform the development of interventions to prevent deaths due to suicide, as well as increasing our understanding of the biological factors which may contribute to risk of suicide.

Dr Rona Strawbridge, from the University’s School of Health & Wellbeing, who leads this project, said: “This project will use big data to help us to understand the biology of suicidal behaviour, in particular the role of Vitamin D and its interactions with social, environmental and contextual factors.”

The second project, a collaboration between researchers from Glasgow and Leeds, will explore the relationship between the cortisol stress response and electrodermal activity in suicide risk.

Researchers will seek to understand to what extent negative life events, experienced across a person’s lifespan, are associated with both cortisol dysregulation and electrodermal activity in those vulnerable to suicide.

To answer these questions researchers in this project will carry out three separate studies, working with groups of people who have different suicidal histories to better understand cortisol and electrodermal activity in these groups.

The project will be led by Professor Rory O’Connor, the chair of health psychology at Glasgow University.

He said: “Thanks to the generous support of the Canmore Trust, we will be able to further disentangle the complex relationship between emotional processing and the stress response in suicide risk.”

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John Gibson, CEO of The Canmore Trust said: “It is an established aim of our charity to develop research work into the potential biological causes of suicide and so we are very pleased to see this collaboration with the University of Glasgow starting in early 2025.

"We hope to see further extension and funding of this work in the years ahead.”

Professor Gerry Graham, Dean of Research at Glasgow University's College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, said: “The College is humbled by this extremely generous donation from the Canmore Trust, which will allow us to work with them to apply our cutting-edge research capabilities to analyse the causes of suicide with the hopeful aim of identifying novel routes to prevention.

"We very much look forward to expanding this relationship in the future.”