Lithium levels in drinking water and risk of suicide

  • Ohgami, Hirochika
  • Terao, Takeshi
  • Shiotsuki, Ippei
  • Ishii, Nobuyoshi
  • Iwata, Noboru

  • Hirochika Ohgami, MD, PhD, Takeshi Terao, MD, PhD, Ippei Shiotsuki, MD, 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: [email protected]

First received 5 Jun 2008, final revision 28 Sep 2008, accepted 23 Oct 2008

British Journal of Psychiatry 194(5):p 464-465, May 2009.

Summary

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.

Declaration of interest

None.

Copyright © 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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