Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:10:39.980Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Suicidal behaviour and lipid levels in unipolar and bipolar depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2014

Babajohn Ainiyet  and
Janusz K. Rybakowski
Babajohn Ainiyet
Affiliation:
Akershus Universytetssykehus Oslo, Norway
Janusz K. Rybakowski*
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
*
Janusz K. Rybakowski, Department of Adult Psychiatry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, ul. Szpitalna 27/33, 60-572 Poznan, Poland. Tel: +4 861 847 5087; Fax: +4 861 848 0392; E-mail: janusz.rybakowski@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduction

Evidence for a possible association between a low level of cholesterol and increased suicidal behaviour has accumulated in the recent 3 decades. The present study investigates whether lipid levels can make state-dependent markers of suicidal behaviour in Polish patients with mood disorder recently admitted to a psychiatric hospital owing to an acute depressive episode.

Materials and methods

The study was conducted on 223 patients (73 male and 150 female) with unipolar (n=171) and bipolar (n=52) depression. They were interviewed to assess any occurrence of suicidal thoughts, suicidal tendencies and/or suicidal attempts during the 3 months before admission. Laboratory measurements [total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides and total lipids] were obtained within 24–72 h after hospital admission.

Results

Suicidal thoughts, tendencies, and attempts were associated with low total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and total lipids in both male and female patients, in both diagnostic categories. Triglycerides were significantly lower in male and female patients with suicidal thoughts compared with their non-suicidal counterparts. No association with suicidality was found with HDL cholesterol.

Conclusions

The results of our study support a majority of research showing the association in depressed patients between suicidal behaviour and low levels of total and LDL cholesterol. In addition, the data suggest a similar association with low total lipids, and in some instances, with low triglycerides.

Keywords

bipolar depressioncholesterollipidssuicideunipolar depression
Type
Original Articles
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 26 , Issue 5 , October 2014 , pp. 315 - 320
Copyright
© Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Muldoon, MF, Manuck, SB, Matthews, KA. Lowering cholesterol concentrations and mortality: a quantitative review of primary prevention trials. Br Med J 1990;301:309–314.Google Scholar
2.Lester, D. Serum cholesterol levels and suicide: a meta-analysis. Suicide Life Threat Behav 2001;32:333–346.Google Scholar
3.ZHANG, J. Epidemiological link between low cholesterol and suicidality: a puzzle never finished. Nutr Neurosci 2011;14:268–287.Google Scholar
4.de Berardis, D, Serroni, N, Campanella, Det al. Alexithymia and its relationships with C-reactive protein and serum lipid levels among drug naïve adult outpatients with major depression. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2008;32:1982–1986.Google Scholar
5.de Berardis, D, Conti, CM, Serroni, Net al. The role of cholesterol levels in mood disorders and suicide. J Biol Regul Homeost Agents 2009;23:133–140.Google Scholar
6.de Berardis, D, Marni, S, Piersanti, Met al. The relationships between cholesterol and suicide: an update. ISRN Psychiatry 2012;2012:387901.Google Scholar
7.Papadopolou, A, Markianos, M, Christodoulou, C, Lykouras, L. Plasma total cholesterol in psychiatric patients after a suicide attempt and in follow-up. J Affect Disord 2013;148:440–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Park, S, Yi, KK, Lim, A, Hong, JP. No association between serum cholesterol and death by suicide in patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, or major depressive disorder. Behav Brain Funct 2013;9:45.Google Scholar
9.Park, YM, Lee, BH, Lee, SH. The association between serum lipid levels, suicide ideation, and central serotonergic activity in patients with major depressive disorder. J Affect Disord 2014;159:62–65.Google Scholar
10.Baek, JH, Kang, ES, Fava, Met al. Serum lipids, recent suicide attempt and recent suicide status in patients with major depressive disorder. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2014;51:113–118.Google Scholar
11.First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, J. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, Clinician Version (SCID-CV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press Inc., 1996.Google Scholar
12.Rabe-Jablońska, J, Poprawska, I. Levels of serum total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol in patients with major depression in acute period and remission. Med Sci Monit 2000;6:539–547.Google Scholar
13.Brunner, J, Bronisch, T, Pfister, H, Jacobi, F, Höfler, M, Wittchen, HU. High cholesterol, triglycerides, and body-mass index in suicide attempters. Arch Suicide Res 2006;10:1–9.Google Scholar
14.Fiedorowicz, JG, Coryell, WH. Cholesterol and suicide attempts: a prospective study of depressed inpatients. Psychiatry Res 2007;152:11–20.Google Scholar
15.Olié, E, Picot, MC, Guillaume, S, Abbar, M, Courtet, P. Measurement of total serum cholesterol in the evaluation of suicidal risk. J Affect Disord 2011;133:234–238.Google Scholar
16.Ruljancic, N, Mihanovic, M, Cepelak, I. Thrombocyte serotonin and serum cholesterol concentration in suicidal and non-suicidal depressed patients. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2011;35:1261–1267.Google Scholar
17.Engelberg, H. Low serum cholesterol and suicide. Lancet 1992;339:727–729.Google Scholar
18.Ringo, DL, Lindley, SE, Faull, KF, Faustman, WO. Cholesterol and serotonin: seeking a possible link between blood cholesterol and CSF 5-HIAA. Biol Psychiatry 1994;35:957–959.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Hibbeln, JR, Umhau, JC, George, DT, Shoaf, SE, Linnoila, M, Salem, N Jr. Plasma total cholesterol concentrations do not predict cerebrospinal fluid neurotransmitter metabolites: implications for the biophysical role of highly unsaturated fatty acids. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;71(Suppl. 1):331S–338S.Google Scholar
20.Morgan, RE, Palinkas, LA, Barrett-Connor, EL, Wingard, DL. Plasma cholesterol and depressive symptoms in older men. Lancet 1993;341:75–79.Google Scholar
21.Patra, BN, Khandelwal, SK, Chadda, RK, Ramakrishnan, L. A controlled study of serum lipid profiles in Indian patients with depressive episode. Indian J Psychol Med 2014;36:129–133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Fischer, P, Gruenblatt, E, Pietschmann, P, Tragl, KH. Serotonin transporter polymorphism and LDL-cholesterol. Mol Psychiatry 2006;11:707–709.Google Scholar
23.You, H, Lu, W, Zhao, S, Hu, Z, Zhang, J. The relationship between statins and depression: a review of the literature. Expert Opin Pharmacother 2013;14:1467–1476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24.Aselius, P, Nordström, AL, Jokinen, J. Cholesterol and the ‘Cycle of Violence’ in attempted suicide. Psychiatry Res 2014;215:646–650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Freemantle, E, Chen, GG, Cruceanu, C, Mechawar, N, Turecki, G. Analysis of oxysterols and cholesterol in prefrontal cortex of suicides. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2013;16:1241–1249.Google Scholar
26.Freemantle, E, Mechawar, N, Turecki, G. Cholesterol and phospholipids in frontal cortex and synaptosomes of suicide completers: relationship with endosomal lipid trafficking genes. J Psychiatr Res 2013;47:272–279.Google Scholar
27.Tsai, SY, Kuo, CJ, Chen, CC, Lee, HC. Risk factors for completed suicide in bipolar disorder. J Clin Psychiatry 2002;63:469–476.Google Scholar
28.Huang, TL. Serum lipid profiles in major depression with clinical subtypes, suicide attempts and episodes. J Affect Disord 2005;86:75–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29.de Leon, J, Mallory, P, Maw, L, Susce, MT, Perez-Rodriguez, MM, Baca-Garcia, E. Lack of replication of the association of low serum cholesterol and attempted suicide in another country raises more questions. Ann Clin Psychiatry 2011;23:163–170.Google ScholarPubMed