BMJ 1995;311:807 (23 September)

Letters

Scottish study does not replicate findings

EDITOR,--Massimo Gallerani and colleagues found lower cholesterol concentrations in subjects after parasuicide than in control subjects matched for age, sex, diabetes, hypertension, heterozygote ß thalassaemia, drug misuse, and alcoholism.1 These results suggest an association between low cholesterol concentrations and suicide. The control population--331 non-suicidal subjects--was recruited from a population attending a general hospital outpatient laboratory.

We have studied the proposed association between serum cholesterol concentration and parasuicide in our catchment area of Scotland (Tayside) and found no such association. We studied 216 healthy patients who had committed parasuicide (age range 25-54) and 286 healthy volunteers matched for age and sex who were not attending hospital for any reason and were receiving no drug treatments. All patients who had committed parasuicide who were receiving prescription drugs or had abnormal results of biochemical tests of liver or renal function were excluded. The patients who had committed parasuicide had a higher serum total . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Serum cholesterol concentraions in parasuicide
Massimo Gallerani, Roberto Manfredini, Stefano Caaracciolo, Chiara Scapoli, Sergio Molinari, and Carmelo Fersini
BMJ 1995 310: 1632-1639. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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