Lithium in the Public Water Supply and Suicide Mortality in Greece

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association between lithium levels in the public water supply and prefecture-based suicide rates in Greece. Analyses were conducted with respect to lithium levels in 149 samples from 34 prefectures of Greece. The average lithium level was 11.10 μg/l (range 0.1 to 121 μg/l). The results indicate that there is a tendency for lower suicide rates in the prefectures with high levels of lithium in drinking water. Ecological studies explained by researchers Schrauzer and Shrestha have revealed the existence of statistically significant inverse associations between the lithium levels in drinking water and the incidence of suicides, homicides, rapes, possession of narcotic drugs, and in juveniles, the rates of runaway from home. Such a result of inverse relationship was not proven by Kabacs et al., most likely because the differences of the lithium levels in the selection of their case-control samples were not large enough. In addition, probably the selection of random regions in Japan and East England might have been biased. Thus, the addition of small amounts of lithium to the drinking water could provide an effective means to lower the incidence of these conditions in the general population. Furthermore, the nutritional importance of lithium in the form of the carbonate named lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) is currently still viewed primarily as a pharmacological agent. The study by Al-Chalabi et al. state that the therapeutic activity of lithium in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is worth investigating. Any drug that can be shown to slow the course of ALS in a clinically significant way and to be safe and well tolerated will be an important advance for patients with this disease.

Trace lithium is inversely associated with male suicide after adjustment of climatic factors

“…A nationwide Austrian study found an inverse association between lithium levels in drinking water and suicide rates after adjustment of population density, per capita income, proportion of Roman Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jad Catholics, as well as the availability of mental health service providers (Kapusta et al, 2011). Furthermore, two recent studies, one conducted in Aomori prefecture of Japan (Sugawara et al, 2013) and the other in 34 province of Greece (Giotakos et al, 2013) also reconfirmed the inverse association between lithium levels in drinking water and suicide rates.…”

Einfluss von natürlichen Lithiumsalzvorkommen auf die Suizidmortalität in Chile 2000–2009: Eine geographische Analyse

“…Die Resultate stimmen mit zuletzt zunehmenden ökologischen Studien aus Texas [4,5], Japan [6,30], Österreich [7] und Griechenland [8] überein, die nachweisen konnten, dass Lithiumvorkommen in der Umwelt -speziell im Trinkwasser -mit einer niedrigeren Suizidmortalität assoziiert sind.…”

“…Zuletzt gab es mehrere Berichte über ein inverses Verhältnis zwischen Lithiumkonzentrationen im Trinkwasser und Suizidraten. Solche Ergebnisse wurden für Texas [4,5], Japan [6], Österreich [7] und Griechenland [8] gezeigt. Eine Studie in OstEngland zeigte jedoch keine solche Assoziation [9].…”

Naturally Occurring Low-Dose Lithium in Drinking Water

“…ecently, a series of ecological studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] on antisuicidal properties of naturally occurring lithium contents in drinking water have sparked interest among researchers. In this issue, Ishii and colleagues 8 present further argument for the hypothesis that even low lithium doses-or rather, doses of lithium at a supplemental level-might have their place in suicide prevention.…”

“…A minimum daily requirement of 1,000 µg of dissolved lithium per day for healthy adults has been postulated by Schrauzer, 14 a dosage similar or equal to environmental lithium levels ingested daily in some geographic areas. [1][2][3][4][5][6] In fact, some natural mineral waters contain even much higher levels of lithium and are consumed unsupervised every day.…”