WEDNESDAY, Feb. 22, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Rebutting previous research, a new study refutes the idea that low cholesterol levels can help predict alcoholics' suicide risk.
While this study of 110 alcoholic psychiatric patients found no link between cholesterol levels and suicide attempts, it did identify a "profile" of alcoholic patients at risk for suicide. The findings appear in the March issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
"Up to 7 percent of alcoholic patients die from suicide, and about one-third of these patients attempt suicide at least once in life," study corresponding author Eberhard A. Deisenhammer, an associate professor of psychiatry at Innsbruck Medical University in Austria, said in a prepared statement.
"However, since many alcoholics are reluctant to seek treatment for their problem, a significant portion of potentially suicidal alcoholic patients go undetected. We wanted to investigate if elevated serum cholesterol levels could serve to identify these individuals early enough to help them," he said.
While recent studies have found that individuals with lower cholesterol levels may be more likely to either attempt or complete suicide, there is no firm evidence linking cholesterol and suicide risk.
For their study, Deisenhammer and his colleagues interviewed and took blood samples from the 110 study volunteers grouped according to whether or not they had attempted suicide during their lifetime. The blood samples were checked for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides.
The researchers found no association between cholesterol levels and suicide attempts. However, they did identify a profile of alcoholics at risk for suicide. Those who had attempted suicide were younger, more often smokers, had more frequently co-abused benzodiazepines (used to relieve anxiety and insomnia), and scored higher on the two standard tests, the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the MADRS "suicidal thoughts" item.
"Maybe future studies will show that there are subgroups of patients for which cholesterol may be useful as a biological suicide marker," Deisenhammer said. "Until that time, doctors and relatives of alcoholics should consider the possibility that their patient/husband/colleague may be, or become, suicidal. Until we have easily applicable biological risk markers at our disposal, they will need to assess suicide risk primarily through conversation."
More information
The American Medical Association has more about suicide.
