Lithium in the prevention of suicide in mood disorders: updated systematic review and meta-analysis

To assess whether lithium has a specific preventive effect for suicide and self harm in people with unipolar and bipolar mood disorders.

Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, web based clinical trial registries, major textbooks, authors of important papers and other experts in the discipline, and websites of pharmaceutical companies that manufacture lithium or the comparator drugs (up to January 2013). INCLUSION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials comparing lithium with placebo or active drugs in long term treatment for mood disorders. REVIEW METHODS: Two reviewers assessed studies for inclusion and risk of bias and extracted data. The main outcomes were the number of people who completed suicide, engaged in deliberate self harm, and died from any cause.