Suicide contributes to 1–4 % of deaths worldwide every year. We conducted a systematic review aimed at summarizing evidence on the use of lithium for the prevention of suicide risk both in mood disorders and in the general population.

We followed the PRISMA methodology (keywords: “lithium”, “suicide” AND “suicidal” on Pubmed, Cochrane CENTRAL, Clinicaltrial.gov, other databases). Inclusion criteria: lithium therapy in mood disorder or found in drinking water or scalp in the general population. Exclusion criteria: no lithium administration.

From 918 screened references, 18 prospective (number of participants: 153786), 10 retrospective (number of participants: 61088) and 16 ecological studies (total sample: 2062) were included. Most of the observational studies reported a reduction in suicide in patients with mood disorders. All studies about lithium treatment’s duration reported that long-term lithium give more benefits than short-term lithium in suicide risk

The evidence seems to attribute an intrinsic anti-suicidal property of lithium, independent of its proven efficacy as a mood stabilizer.

每年自杀占全世界死亡人数的1-4％。我们进行了系统的综述，旨在总结有关在情绪障碍和一般人群中使用锂预防自杀风险的证据。

我们遵循PRISMA方法（在Pubmed，Cochrane CENTRAL，Clinicaltrial.gov和其他数据库上使用关键词“锂”，“自杀”和“自杀”）。纳入标准：锂疗法用于情绪障碍或在普通人群的饮用水或头皮中发现。排除标准：不使用锂。

从918份经筛选的参考文献中，纳入了18份前瞻性研究（参与者人数：153786），10份回顾性研究（参与者人数：61088）和16项生态学研究（样本总数：2062）。大多数观察性研究报道，情绪障碍患者的自杀率有所降低。所有有关锂治疗持续时间的研究均表明，长期锂在自杀风险方面比短期锂更具益处

证据似乎归因于锂的内在抗自杀特性，与锂作为情绪稳定剂的有效功效无关。