Serum cholesterol, suicidal tendencies, impulsivity, aggression, and depression in adolescent psychiatric inpatients.

BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between serum cholesterol levels and suicidal behaviors in adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Any association between serum cholesterol and measures of suicidal behavior, impulsivity, aggression, anxiety, and depression was also examined. METHODS: Consecutive admissions (n = 152) to an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit were assessed using measures of suicidal behavior, violence, impulsivity, and depression. Serum cholesterol was compared between those admitted for reasons of suicidal tendencies and those for other reasons. Correlation between serum cholesterol and measures of suicidal behavior, violence, impulsivity, and depression were examined. RESULTS: Serum cholesterol levels were significantly higher in adolescent patients who were currently suicidal than in nonsuicidal adolescents. Within the suicidal group, but not in the total inpatient group, serum cholesterol correlated negatively with the degree of suicidal behavior. No correlation between serum cholesterol levels and depression, violence, and impulsivity were detected. No significant differences were found in serum cholesterol levels between diagnoses or between suicidal and nonsuicidal patients within each diagnostic group. CONCLUSIONS: The association between cholesterol and suicidal tendencies remains complex and may depend on several variables within the population studied. Its usefulness as a biologic risk factor in clinical samples remains to be determined.

The present state of people who survived the holocaust as children.

A total of 103 Holocaust survivors who suffered from Nazi persecution during their childhood years were interviewed in 1992. The interviews were conducted using a questionnaire specially prepared for statistical studies of Holocaust survivors. The study demonstrated that most survivors in this sample still suffer today, more than 50 years after the outbreak of the Second World War, from symptoms of the survivor syndrome. Their mental suffering is in positive correlation to the intensity of the trauma they suffered in their childhood. Those who were in death camps suffer more than those who suffered during their childhood from other forms of persecution by the Nazis. The coping and adjustment of child survivors of death camps were also less successful than the coping and adjustment of child survivors who went through other forms of persecution.