Year: 1979 Source: Neuropsychobiology, v.5, no.3, (1979), p.167-173 SIEC No: 19860495

784 patients in the Edinburgh & Lothian area of Scotland, receiving lithium for a period of up to 115 months, were studied. 33 patients died during the period of study due predominantly to cardiovascular causes or to suicide. There was nothing to suggest that long-term exposure caused more deaths than short-term exposure and the pattern of mortality resembled that found in other studies of manic-depressive illness, i.e. the majority of deaths occurred in the early stages of follow-up. 14ref.