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High CSF-insulin in violent suicide attempters.

Westling S, Ahrén B, Träskman-Bendz L, Westrin A

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychiatry, Lund University Hospital, 221 85 Lund, Sweden. sofie.westling@telia.com

Several studies have investigated a connection between diabetes and major depressive disorder (MDD). Whether these associations are mediated by changes in insulin is not known. Insulin seems to play a role in violent behaviour. To further elucidate the role of insulin in MDD and violent, aggressive, or impulsive behaviour, we measured insulin in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 74 patients with a recent suicide attempt. Patients were divided into those with and without MDD, and they were also subgrouped by whether the suicide attempt was considered to be violent or not. It was found that patients with a violent suicide attempt had significantly higher CSF-insulin (5.9+/-1.0 pmol/l) than those with a nonviolent attempt (5.3+/-0.7 pmol/l). In contrast, there were no significant differences in CSF-insulin between patients with MDD and patients without. Our findings support the hypothesis that CSF-insulin is involved in violent behaviour, but not connected to MDD as such.

Published 21 January 2005 in Psychiatry Res, 129(3): 249-55.
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