Analysis of 65 studies reveals low cholesterol levels are significantly associated with increased suicide risk

This study was published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience 2016 Jan;41(1):56-69

Study title and authors:
Serum lipid levels and suicidality: a meta-analysis of 65 epidemiological studies.

Wu S, Ding Y, Wu F, Xie G, Hou J, Mao P.
Research Center for Clinical Medicine, the 302nd Hospital of PLA, Beijing, China

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26505144

This study was a systematic review of the scientific literature and meta-analysis to determine the association between cholesterol levels and suicide. The analysis included 65 studies with a total of 510,392 participants. The participants were categorized as follows:
(i) patients with various psychiatric diseases (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, personality disorder, drug and alcohol addictions) with suicidality, who were defined as suicidal patients;
(ii) patients with various psychiatric diseases without suicidality, who were defined as nonsuicidal patients;
(iii) healthy participants without any psychiatric disease and suicidality, who were defined as healthy controls.

The study found:
(a) Compared with the nonsuicidal patients, suicidal patients had significantly lower cholesterol levels, LDL cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels.  
(b) Compared with the healthy controls, suicidal patients had significantly lower cholesterol levels, HDL cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol levels.
(c) Compared with those with the highest cholesterol levels, participants with lower cholesterol levels had a 112% higher risk of suicidality, including a 123% higher risk of suicide attempt and an 85% higher risk of suicide completion.

Links to other studies:
Suicide attempters have low cholesterol levels
Low cholesterol is associated with major depressive disorder and death from suicide
Low cholesterol is significantly associated with schizophrenia