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Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations

Although suicide is considered a major preventable cause of mortality worldwide, we do not have effective strategies to prevent it. Lithium has been consistently associated with lowering risk of suicide. This effect could occur at very low concentrations, such as trace doses of lithium in tap water....

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Autores principales: Araya, Pablo, Martínez, Camila, Barros, Jorge
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8891154/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35252091
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.805774
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author Araya, Pablo
Martínez, Camila
Barros, Jorge
author_facet Araya, Pablo
Martínez, Camila
Barros, Jorge
author_sort Araya, Pablo
collection PubMed
description Although suicide is considered a major preventable cause of mortality worldwide, we do not have effective strategies to prevent it. Lithium has been consistently associated with lowering risk of suicide. This effect could occur at very low concentrations, such as trace doses of lithium in tap water. Several ecological studies and recent meta-analysis have suggested an inverse association between lithium in water and suicide in the general population, with a lack of knowledge of clinically significant side effects. This paper is aimed as a proposal to discuss the addition of lithium to drinking water to decrease the suicide rate. For this, we review the evidence available, use previous experiences, such as water fluoridation to prevent dental caries, and discuss the complexity involved in such a public policy. Considering the limited data available and the controversies contained in this proposal, we suggest that a consensus on lithium concentration in water is needed, where the suicide rates start to reduce, as happened with water fluoridation. This measure will require to develop community-controlled trials with strict monitoring of any side effects, where democratic procedures would constitute one of the most appropriate ways to validate its implementation according to the reality of each community.
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spelling pubmed-88911542022-03-04 Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations Araya, Pablo Martínez, Camila Barros, Jorge Front Public Health Public Health Although suicide is considered a major preventable cause of mortality worldwide, we do not have effective strategies to prevent it. Lithium has been consistently associated with lowering risk of suicide. This effect could occur at very low concentrations, such as trace doses of lithium in tap water. Several ecological studies and recent meta-analysis have suggested an inverse association between lithium in water and suicide in the general population, with a lack of knowledge of clinically significant side effects. This paper is aimed as a proposal to discuss the addition of lithium to drinking water to decrease the suicide rate. For this, we review the evidence available, use previous experiences, such as water fluoridation to prevent dental caries, and discuss the complexity involved in such a public policy. Considering the limited data available and the controversies contained in this proposal, we suggest that a consensus on lithium concentration in water is needed, where the suicide rates start to reduce, as happened with water fluoridation. This measure will require to develop community-controlled trials with strict monitoring of any side effects, where democratic procedures would constitute one of the most appropriate ways to validate its implementation according to the reality of each community. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8891154/ /pubmed/35252091 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.805774 Text en Copyright © 2022 Araya, Martínez and Barros. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Araya, Pablo
Martínez, Camila
Barros, Jorge
Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations
title Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations
title_full Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations
title_fullStr Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations
title_full_unstemmed Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations
title_short Lithium in Drinking Water as a Public Policy for Suicide Prevention: Relevance and Considerations
title_sort lithium in drinking water as a public policy for suicide prevention: relevance and considerations
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8891154/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35252091
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.805774
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