RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOWER SERUM CHOLESTEROL LEVEL AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

The study applies the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-60) to 50 consecutive patients attending Psychiatry-O.P.D., Medical College, Calcutta provided they meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Subjects were between 15 to 55 years, literate, and did not have any physical disease or condition specially those which can alter serum cholesterol level. Every patient was physically examined and interviewed. Subjects scoring less than 11 on GHQ were taken to have no psychiatric disease. Serum cholesterol level of these subjects was contrasted with subjects scoring 11 or more on GHQ, who were considered to have psychiatric diagnosis. The study showed that male psychiatric patients had statistically significant lower serum cholesterol than normal subjects while no significant lowering was observed in female psychiatric patients.