Lithium treatment extends human lifespan: findings from the UK Biobank.

ABSTRACT: Lithium is a nutritional trace element that is also used pharmacologically for the management of bipolar and related psychiatric disorders. Recent studies have shown that lithium supplementation can extend health and lifespan in different animal models. Moreover, nutritional lithium uptake from drinking water was repeatedly found to be positively correlated with human longevity. By analyzing a large observational aging cohort (UK Biobank, n = 501,461 individuals) along with prescription data derived from the National Health Services (NHS), we here find therapeutic supplementation of lithium linked to decreased mortality (p = 0.0017) of individuals diagnosed with affective disorders. Subsequent multivariate survival analyses reveal lithium to be the strongest factor in regards

SUBMITTER: Araldi E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9925675 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature