The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 194: 464-465. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.055798
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow View responses
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in BJP
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ohgami, H.
Right arrow Articles by Iwata, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ohgami, H.
Right arrow Articles by Iwata, N.

SHORT REPORT

Lithium levels in drinking water and risk of suicide{dagger}

Hirochika Ohgami, MD, PhD, Takeshi Terao, MD, PhD, Ippei Shiotsuki, MD and Nobuyoshi Ishii, MD

Department of Neuropsychiatry, Oita University Faculty of Medicine

Noboru Iwata, PhD

Department of Clinical Psychology, Hiroshima International University, Japan

Correspondence: Professor Takeshi Terao, Department of Neuropsychiatry, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Idaigaoka 1-1, Hasama-machi, Yufu, Oita, 879-5593, Japan. Email: terao{at}med.oita-u.ac.jp

Declaration of interest

None.

{dagger} See invited commentary, p. 466, this issue.

Although lithium is known to prevent suicide in people with mood disorders, it is uncertain whether lithium in drinking water could also help lower the risk in the general population. To investigate this, we examined lithium levels in tap water in the 18 municipalities of Oita prefecture in Japan in relation to the suicide standardised mortality ratio (SMR) in each municipality. We found that lithium levels were significantly and negatively associated with SMR averages for 2002–2006. These findings suggest that even very low levels of lithium in drinking water may play a role in reducing suicide risk within the general population.


Related articles in BJP:

Invited commentary on... Lithium levels in drinking water and risk of suicide
Allan H. Young
BJP 2009 194: 466. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

From the Editor’s desk
Peter Tyrer
BJP 2009 194: 478. [Full Text]  

Highlights of this issue
Sukhwinder S. Shergill
BJP 2009 194: A19. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br. J. PsychiatryHome page
G. Desai and S. K. Chaturvedi
Lithium in drinking water and food, and risk of suicide
The British Journal of Psychiatry, September 1, 2009; 195(3): 271 - 271.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br. J. PsychiatryHome page
P. S. Chandra and G. N. Babu
Lithium in drinking water and food, and risk of suicide
The British Journal of Psychiatry, September 1, 2009; 195(3): 271 - 271.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br. J. PsychiatryHome page
T. Terao, H. Ohgami, I. Shiotsuki, N. Ishii, and N. Iwata
Authors' reply:
The British Journal of Psychiatry, September 1, 2009; 195(3): 271 - 272.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br. J. PsychiatryHome page
A. H. Young
Invited commentary on... Lithium levels in drinking water and risk of suicide
The British Journal of Psychiatry, May 1, 2009; 194(5): 466 - 466.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

eLetters:

Read all eLetters

Lithium levels and risk of suicide in general population
Prabha S Chandra, et al.
BJP Online, 18 Jun 2009 [Full text]
Lithium in drinking water and diet and suicide rates
Geetha Desai, et al.
BJP Online, 18 Jun 2009 [Full text]
Authors' reply
Takeshi Terao, et al.
BJP Online, 1 Jul 2009 [Full text]
Confounding the "lithium waters"
Mark A Huthwaite, et al.
BJP Online, 22 Oct 2009 [Full text]