Serum cholesterol levels preceding to suicide death in Japanese workers: a nested case-control study

To investigate the association between suicide death and serum cholesterol levels as measured at times close to suicide death. We conducted a nested case-control study of 41 cases of suicide deaths and 205 matched controls with serum total cholesterol (TC) levels till 3 years before suicide death in a large cohort of Japanese workers. Individuals in the lowest versus highest tertile/predefined category of TC in a Japanese working population had a three- to four-fold greater risk of suicide death. Each 10 mg/dl decrement of average TC was associated with an 18% increased chance of suicide death (95% confidence interval, 2-35%). Similar results were found for TC levels at each year. These results suggest that a low serum TC level in recent past is associated with an increased risk of suicide death.