ArticleJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2018
Examining the Relationship between Trace Lithium in Drinking Water and the Rising Rates of Age-Adjusted Alzheimer's Disease Mortality in Texas.
Article in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bipolar Disorder and Manic-Like Symptoms in Alzheimer's, Vascular and Frontotemporal Dementia: A Systematic Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Lithium Carbonate in a Poststroke Population: Exploratory Analyses of Neuroanatomical and Cognitive Outcomes.Journal of clinical psychopharmacologyTrial
- Lithium as a Potential Senostatic Agent in Central Nervous System Aging and Bipolar Disorder.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Lithium exposure in areas of the Western United States: Water and urinary levels in the Strong Heart Family Study.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Lithium and the Brain-Bone Axis: A Bridge between Osteoporosis and Alzheimer's Disease.Current osteoporosis reports · 2026Review
- Cancer Risk and Estimated Lithium Exposure in Drinking Groundwater in the US.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Lithium: current state of the art and future directions.International journal of bipolar disorders · 2024Review
- Trace Lithium for Suicide Prevention and Dementia Prevention: A Qualitative Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Keys to the switch of fat burning: stimuli that trigger the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) activation in adipose tissue.Lipids in health and disease · 2024Review
- Trace lithium levels in drinking water and risk of dementia: a systematic review.International journal of bipolar disorders · 2024Review
- Article
- Review
- Lithium and its effects: does dose matter?International journal of bipolar disorders · 2024Review
- Lithium: how low can you go?International journal of bipolar disorders · 2024Article
- Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential of lithium in Alzheimer's disease: repurposing an old class of drugs.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Bipolar disorder and Lewy body dementia: case report and literature review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Evaluation of potential human health risks associated with Li and their relationship with Na, K, Mg, and Ca in Romania's nationwide drinking water.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Long-Term Lithium Therapy: Side Effects and Interactions.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Beyond its Psychiatric Use: The Benefits of Low-dose Lithium Supplementation.Current neuropharmacology · 2023Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlzheimer's disease (AD) mortality rates have steadily increased over time. Lithium, the current gold standard treatment for bipolar disorder, can exert neuroprotective effects against AD.
objectiveWe examined the relationship between trace levels of lithium in drinking water and changes in AD mortality across several Texas counties.
methods6,180 water samples from public wells since 2007 were obtained and averaged for 234 of 254 Texas counties. Changes in AD mortality rates were calculated by subtracting aggregated age-adjusted mortality rates obtained between 2000-2006 from those obtained between 2009-2015. Using aggregated rates maximized the number of counties with reliable mortality data. Correlational analyses between average lithium concentrations and changes in AD mortality were performed while also adjusting for gender, race, education, rural living, air pollution, physical inactivity, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
resultsAge-adjusted AD mortality rate was significantly increased over time (+27%, p < 0.001). Changes in AD mortality were negatively correlated with trace lithium levels (p = 0.01, r = -0.20), and statistical significance was maintained after controlling for most risk factors except for physical inactivity, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes positively correlated with changes in AD mortality (p = 0.01 and 0.03, respectively), but also negatively correlated with trace lithium in drinking water (p = 0.05 and <0.0001, respectively).
conclusionTrace lithium in water is negatively linked with changes in AD mortality, as well as obesity and type 2 diabetes, which are important risk factors for AD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.