Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T09:07:20.970Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cholesterol and Mental Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Paul F. Boston ,
Serdar M. Dursun  and
Michael A. Reveley
Paul F. Boston*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Serdar M. Dursun
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Michael A. Reveley
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
*
Dr Paul F. Boston, Department of Psychiatry, Robert Kilpatrick Clinical Sciences Building, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leicester, Leicester LE2 7LX
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Cholesterol plays an important part in cellular structure and function and changes in serum levels may affect neurotransmission in the central nervous system.

Method

A medline literature search was made covering the period 1990–95 with systematic searching of citations from the articles identified. Representative articles were selected, focusing on those aspects which had not been thoroughly reviewed elsewhere, namely suicidal ideation, depression, personality and schizophrenia.

Results

Lowering cholesterol levels have been associated with an increase in violent deaths in cardiovascular primary prevention studies. However, altered cholesterol levels have also been reported in relation to other psychiatric disorders.

Conclusion

There is substantial evidence that serum cholesterol levels may be associated with variations in mental state or personality. Further work is needed to clarify this and to elucidate the mechanisms involved.

Type
Review Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 169 , Issue 6 , December 1996 , pp. 682 - 689
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boston, P. F., Dursun, S. M. & Reveley, M. A. (1996) Serum cholesterol and treatment resistance in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry (in press).Google Scholar
Brice, A. T. (1935) The blood fats in schizophrenia. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 81, 613–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowkes, F. G. R., Leng, G. C., Donnan, P. T., et al (1992) Serum cholesterol, triglycerides and aggression in the general population. Lancet, 340, 995–998.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freedman, D. S., Byers, T., Barrett, D. H., et al (1995) Plasma lipid levels and psychologic characteristics in man. American Journal of Epidemiology, 141, 507–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallerani, M., Manfredini, R., Caraccioli, S., et al (1995) Serum cholesterol concentrations and parasuicide. British Medical Journal, 310, 1632–1636.Google Scholar
Gildea, E. F., Man, E. B. & Biach, R. W. (1940) Serum protein, nonprotein nitrogen and lipoids in schizophrenic and manio–depressive psychoses. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 43, 932.Google Scholar
Glueck, C. J., Gartside, P., Fallat, R. W., et al (1976) Longevity syndromes: familial hypobeta and familial hyperalpha lipoproteinaemia. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, 88, 941–957.Google Scholar
Glueck, C. J., Kuller, F. E., Hamer, A. T., et al (1994) Hypocholesterolaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia, suicide, and suicide ideation in children hospitalised for psychiatric diseases. Clinical Research, 42, 245a.Google Scholar
Golier, J. A., Marzuk, P. M., Leon, A. C., et al (1995) Low serum cholesterol and attempted suicide. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 419–423.Google Scholar
Hawton, K., Cowen, P., Owens, D., et al (1993) Low serum cholesterol and suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 818–825.Google Scholar
Hillbrand, M. & Foster, H. G. (1993) Serum cholesterol levels and severity of aggression. Psychological Reports, 72, 270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillbrand, M., Spitz, R. T. & Foster, H. G. (1995) Serum cholesterol and aggression in hospitalised male forensic patients. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 18, 33–43.Google Scholar
Holinger, P. C. & Klemen, E. H. (1982) Violent deaths in the United States 1900–1975. Social Science and Medicine, 16, 1929–1938.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, M. (1994) Diets, violence and civilisation. British Medical Journal, 309, 1228.Google Scholar
Kaplan, J. R., Manuck, S. B. & Shively, C. (1991) The effect of fat and cholesterol on social behaviour in monkeys. Psychosomatic Medicine, 53, 634–642.Google Scholar
Law, M. R., Thompson, S. G. & Wald, N. J. (1994) Assessing possible hazards of reducing serum cholesterol. British Medical Journal, 308, 373–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maes, M., Delanghe, J., Meltzer, H. Y., et al (1994) Lower degree of esterification of serum cholesterol in depression: relevance for depression and suicide research. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 90, 252–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Modai, I., Valevski, A., Dror, S., et al (1994) Serum cholesterol and suicidal tendencies in psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 55, 252–254.Google ScholarPubMed
Muldoon, M. F., Kaplan, J. R., Manuck, S. B., et al (1992) Effects of a low-fat diet on brain serotonergic responsivity in cynomolgus monkeys. Biological Psychiatry, 31, 739–742.Google Scholar
Muldoon, M. F., Rossouw, J. E., Manuck, S. B., et al (1993) Low or lowered cholesterol and risk of death from suicide and trauma. Metabolism, 42(suppl. 1), 45–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
New, A. S., Trestman, M. K., Gettinger, S., et al (1994) Serum cholesterol and impulsivity in mood and personality disorders. Biological Psychiatry, 35, 739–740.Google Scholar
Oxenkrug, G. F., Branconnier, R. J., Harto-Traux, N., et al (1983) Is serum cholesterol a biological marker for major depressive episode? American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 920–921.Google Scholar
Penttinen, J. (1995) Hypothesis: low serum cholesterol, suicide, and interleukin-2. American Journal of Epidemiology, 141, 716–718.Google Scholar
Randall, L. O. & Cohen, L. H. (1939) The serum lipids in schizophrenia. Psychiatric Quarterly, 13, 441–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, M. & Murray, F. E. (1995) Scottish study does not replicate findings. British Medical Journal, 311, 807.Google Scholar
Sletten, I. W., Nilsen, J. A., Young, R. C., et al (1964) Blood lipids and behavior in mental-hospital patients. Psychosomatic Medicine, 26, 261–266.Google Scholar
Sullivan, P. F., Joyce, P. R., Bulik, C. M., et al (1994) Total cholesterol and suicidality in depression. Biological Psychiatry, 36, 472–477.Google Scholar
Takei, N., Kunugi, H., Nanko, S., et al (1994) Low serum cholesterol and suicide attempts. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 702–703.Google Scholar
Virkkunen, M. (1979) Serum cholesterol in antisocial personality. Neuropsychobiology, 5, 27–30.Google Scholar
Virkkunen, M. (1983) Serum cholesterol levels in homicidal offenders. Neuropsychobiology, 10, 65–69.Google Scholar
Yates, W. R. & Wallace, R. (1987) Cardiovascular risk factors in affective disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 12, 129–134.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.