IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v10y2013i11p6044-6048d30350.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lithium in Tap Water and Suicide Mortality in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Norio Sugawara

    (Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, 5 Zaifucho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8562, Japan)

  • Norio Yasui-Furukori

    (Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, 5 Zaifucho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8562, Japan)

  • Nobuyoshi Ishii

    (Department of Neuropsychiatry, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Idaigaoka 1-1, Hasama-machi, Yufu, Oita 879-5593, Japan)

  • Noboru Iwata

    (Department of Clinical Psychology, Hiroshima International University, 555-36 Kurose-Gakuendai, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-2695, Japan)

  • Takeshi Terao

    (Department of Neuropsychiatry, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Idaigaoka 1-1, Hasama-machi, Yufu, Oita 879-5593, Japan)

Abstract

Lithium has been used as a mood-stabilizing drug in people with mood disorders. Previous studies have shown that natural levels of lithium in drinking water may protect against suicide. This study evaluated the association between lithium levels in tap water and the suicide standardized mortality ratio (SMR) in 40 municipalities of Aomori prefecture, which has the highest levels of suicide mortality rate in Japan. Lithium levels in the tap water supplies of each municipality were measured using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. After adjusting for confounders, a statistical trend toward significance was found for the relationship between lithium levels and the average SMR among females. These findings indicate that natural levels of lithium in drinking water might have a protective effect on the risk of suicide among females. Future research is warranted to confirm this association.

Suggested Citation

  • Norio Sugawara & Norio Yasui-Furukori & Nobuyoshi Ishii & Noboru Iwata & Takeshi Terao, 2013. "Lithium in Tap Water and Suicide Mortality in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-5, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:11:p:6044-6048:d:30350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/11/6044/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/11/6044/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jane E. Baird & Robert C. Zelin II & Dale E. Marxen, 1998. "Gender Differences in the Job Attitudes of Accountants," American Journal of Business, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 13(2), pages 35-44.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nikoline N. Knudsen & Jörg Schullehner & Birgitte Hansen & Lisbeth F. Jørgensen & Søren M. Kristiansen & Denitza D. Voutchkova & Thomas A. Gerds & Per K. Andersen & Kristine Bihrmann & Morten Grønbæk , 2017. "Lithium in Drinking Water and Incidence of Suicide: A Nationwide Individual-Level Cohort Study with 22 Years of Follow-Up," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Inoue, Akiomi & Kawakami, Norito, 2010. "Interpersonal conflict and depression among Japanese workers with high or low socioeconomic status: Findings from the Japan Work Stress and Health Cohort Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 173-180, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    lithium; suicide rate; Japan;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:11:p:6044-6048:d:30350. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.