Patients hospitalised with mental illness have lower cholesterol levels than the general public

This paper was published in Psychiatric Services 2012 Mar;63(3):294-5

 

Study title and authors:

Unexpectedly low cholesterol levels among New York State inpatients.

Essock SM, Jackson CT, Kent L.

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22388541

This paper compared cholesterol levels in:
(i) 3,792 New York State Office of Mental Health Hospital patients, (from 17 hospitals) aged 18 and over, with severe and persistent mental illness.
(ii) The general US public.

The paper found:
(a) The mental hospital patients with cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL (5.1 mmol/L) ranged from 11% to 36% across the 17 hospitals.
(b) US national data indicates that from 40% to 51% of the US public have cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL (5.1 mmol/L), depending on their ethnic background.

This paper shows that patients hospitalised with mental illness have lower cholesterol levels than the general public.