[Is total cholesterol a good predictor of attempting suicide?]

The aim of the study was to verify a correlation between total cholesterol and a risk of attempting suicide. There has been data suggesting that individuals with low cholesterol are prone to commit a suicide. This could be due to the altered serotonin metabolism that in turn increases the level of aggressiveness, compulsiveness an promotes attempting suicide. We analyzed data from 300 poisonings, also with drugs, which were considered as attempted suicides. There was no evident correlation between cholesterol level and incidence of poisoning with drugs, acute alcohol poisoning and chronic alcohol abuse. Moreover, we did not find a correlation between low cholesterol level and a need of psychiatric treatment, both in hospital and in outpatient clinic. Further study are needed to elucidate the exact role of low cholesterol as a predictor of suicide attempt.