Lithium treatment extends human lifespan: findings from the UK Biobank

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 drin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aging (Albany, NY.) NY.), 2023-01, Vol.15 (2), p.421-440
Main Authors: Araldi, Elisa, Jutzeler, Catherine R, Ristow, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Specimen Banks
Humans
Lithium - analysis
Lithium - therapeutic use
Lithium Compounds - therapeutic use
Longevity
Research Paper
United Kingdom
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Summary: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, = 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 ( = 0.0017) of individuals diagnosed with affective disorders. Subsequent multivariate survival analyses reveal lithium to be the strongest factor in regards to increased survival effects (hazard ratio = 0.274 [0.119-0.634 CI 95%, = 0.0023]), corresponding to 3.641 times lower (95% CI 1.577-8.407) chances of dying at a given age for lithium users compared to users of other anti-psychotic drugs. While these results may further support the use of lithium as a geroprotective supplement, it should be noted that doses applied within the UK Biobank/NHS setting require close supervision by qualified medical professionals.
ISSN:1945-4589
1945-4589
DOI:10.18632/aging.204476