Teens whose mothers had attempted suicide are themselves at increased risk of doing the same thing, according to a German research report.

Dr. Roselind Lieb, from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, along with her associates followed a representative community sample of 933 teenagers, who were between 14 and 17 years old in 1995 along with their mothers. Suicidal thoughts without attempts was reported by 31.9 percent of mothers and 31.6 percent of offspring, and corresponding rates of actual suicide attempts were 2.3 percent and 5.0 percent

Teens whose mothers had attempted suicide are themselves at increased risk of doing the same thing, according to a German research report.

Dr. Roselind Lieb, from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, along with her associates followed a representative community sample of 933 teenagers, who were between 14 and 17 years old in 1995 along with their mothers. Suicidal thoughts without attempts was reported by 31.9 percent of mothers and 31.6 percent of offspring, and corresponding rates of actual suicide attempts were 2.3 percent and 5.0 percent

The Food and Drug Administration has begun a preliminary inquiry into whether epilepsy drugs may increase the risk of suicidal behavior in some patients, particularly those who use them for psychiatric illnesses. The FDA's recent interest in the drugs follows a lawyer's claims against a leading anticonvulsant named Neurontin. The FDA, in turn, asked makers of all epilepsy medicines last month to reanalyze research to see if there was evidence of increased suicide risk. "I don't think we have any suspicion yet that these drugs actually do that," said Dr. Robert Temple, the F.D.A.'s drug policy chief. Antiseizure drugs are becoming widely used to treat some psychiatric illnesses as well as pain