Beta Thalassemia Minor as a Risk Factor for Suicide and Violence: A Failure to Replicate

Alireza Fotouhi Ghiam, Alireza Hashemi, Mohammad Reza Bordbar, Mehran Karimi

Hematology Research Center, Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran.
Mental Health University Institute, Douglas Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada..

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2010.11003                

Abstract

The aim of present study was to evaluate the association of thalassemia minor with suicide, impulsivity and ag-gression. The study group consisted of 293 suicidal subjects, 300 violent criminals and 300 control subjects. Thalas-semia trait was slightly more common in criminals (7.3%) than in controls (6.67%), this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.75). Similarly, carrier trait was observed more in suicidal subjects (8.87%) though this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.3). Despite a plausible biological hypothesis, our study results do not support that thalassemia minor could be a risk factor for suicidal, impulsivity and aggressive behaviors.

Keywords

Thalassemia Minor, Aggression, Suicide

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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