Suicidal Ideations and the Level of Blood Cholesterol

This project compared the level of blood cholesterol in hospitalized psychiatric pa-tients with suicidal ideations with that of similar patients with no suicidal thoughts. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the level of blood cholesterol of 374 patients (247 males, 127 females) admitted at Iran Psychiatric Education-Treatment Center was evaluated. The patients were divided in two groups of patients with and without suicidal ideations the level of their respective blood cholesterol was compared with one another. These subjects had been hos- pitalized with the diagnosis of schizophrenia (157 patients), bipolar (192 patients), major depress-ion (68 patients), and other psychiatric disorders. To analyze the data, t-statistical test was used. There was no significant difference between suicidal with non-suicidal patients’ level of basal cholesterol. Level of blood cholesterol probably is not a biological marker, or a risk factor for suicide in hospitalized psychiatric patients.