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Decreased risk of suicides and attempts during long-term lithium treatment: a meta-analytic review

  1. Ross J Baldessarini1,2,
  2. Leonardo Tondo1,2,3,
  3. Paula Davis1,
  4. Maurizio Pompili1,4,
  5. Frederick K Goodwin5,
  6. John Hennen1,2

Article first published online: 17 OCT 2006

DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2006.00344.x

Issue

Bipolar Disorders

Bipolar Disorders

Volume 8, Issue 5p2, pages 625–639, October 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Baldessarini, R. J., Tondo, L., Davis, P., Pompili, M., Goodwin, F. K. and Hennen, J. (2006), Decreased risk of suicides and attempts during long-term lithium treatment: a meta-analytic review. Bipolar Disorders, 8: 625–639. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2006.00344.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    International Consortium for Research on Bipolar Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston

  2. 2

    McLean Division of Massachusetts General Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA

  3. 3

    Department of Psychology, University of Cagliari and Lucio Bini Mood Disorder Center, Cagliari, Sardinia

  4. 4

    Department of Psychiatry, Sant'Andrea Hospital, University of Rome (La Sapienza), Rome, Italy

  5. 5

    Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University Medical School, Washington, DC, USA

*Ross J Baldessarini, MD, Mailman Research Center 306, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178-9106, USA. Fax: +1 617 855 3479; e-mail: rjb@mclean.org

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 17 OCT 2006
  2. Article first published online: 17 OCT 2006
  3. Received 22 September 2005, revised and accepted for publication 13 March 2006
Corrected by:

Erratum

Vol. 9, Issue 3, 314, Article first published online: 5 APR 2007

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Keywords:

  • bipolar disorder;
  • lithium;
  • major affective disorders;
  • meta-analysis;
  • suicide

Objectives:  To update and extend comparisons of rates of suicides and suicide attempts among patients with major affective disorders with versus without long-term lithium treatment.

Methods:  Broad searching yielded 45 studies providing rates of suicidal acts during lithium treatment, including 34 also providing rates without lithium treatment. We scored study quality, tested between-study variance, and examined suicidal rates on versus off lithium by meta-analytic methods to determine risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results:  In 31 studies suitable for meta-analysis, involving a total of 85,229 person-years of risk-exposure, the overall risk of suicides and attempts was five times less among lithium-treated subjects than among those not treated with lithium (RR = 4.91, 95% CI 3.82–6.31, p < 0.0001). Similar effects were found with other meta-analytic methods, as well as for completed versus attempted suicide, and for bipolar versus major mood disorder patients. Studies with higher quality ratings, including randomized, controlled trials, involved shorter exposures with somewhat lesser lithium superiority. Omitting one very large study or those involving lithium-discontinuation had little effect on the results. The incidence-ratio of attempts-to-suicides increased 2.5 times with lithium-treatment, indicating reduced lethality of suicidal acts. There was no indication of bias toward reporting positive findings, nor were outcomes significantly influenced by publication-year or study size.

Conclusions:  Risks of completed and attempted suicide were consistently lower, by approximately 80%, during treatment of bipolar and other major affective disorder patients with lithium for an average of 18 months. These benefits were sustained in randomized as well as open clinical trials.

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