WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. scientists have identified a gene mutation that appears to be common in people who attempt or commit suicide, a finding that could lead to a blood test to predict risk.

The discovery is based on a small study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and was published on Wednesday in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

“We have no consistent way to predict those who are at increased risk of killing themselves,” said lead author Zachary Kaminsky, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“With a test like ours, we may be able to stem suicide rates by identifying those people and intervening early enough to head off a catastrophe.”

Such a test is years away from being widely available to the public.

For now, researchers say they have found a chemical change in a single gene, called SKA2, which is linked to how the brain responds to stress hormones.

This gene “plays a significant role in turning what might otherwise be an unremarkable reaction to the strain of everyday life into suicidal thoughts and behaviors,” said the study.

Researchers found it by examining brain samples from people who had killed themselves, and found that levels of SKA2 were significantly reduced compared to healthy people.

They also tested blood samples from 325 people in a prevention study at JHU and found that changes in the gene could predict with 80 percent certainty those who were experiencing suicidal thoughts or who had attempted suicide.