THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLASMA-CHOLESTEROL CONCENTRATION AND MINOR PSYCHIATRIC DISTURBANCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT STUDY

We examined the hypothesis that low plasma cholesterol concentration w as associated with minor psychiatric disturbance in a cross-sectional study of 410 male and 138 female civil servants. Psychiatric disturban ce was measured using the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHR). Mean GHQ score did not vary significantly with quartile of total chole sterol concentration. After adjustment for confounding variables a sig nificant trend of increasing mean GHR with increasing cholesterol conc entration emerged. In a logistic regression analysis subjects in the h ighest quartile of cholesterol concentration had an adjusted odds rati o for being a ''psychiatric case'' of 2.0 (95% confidence interval, 1. 1-2.5) compared with those in the lowest quartile. This relationship r eversed when using a higher cutoff point to define more severe cases, although the trend was not statistically significant.