TITLE:
Beta Thalassemia Minor as a Risk Factor for Suicide and Violence: A Failure to Replicate
AUTHORS:
Alireza Fotouhi Ghiam, Alireza Hashemi, Mohammad Reza Bordbar, Mehran Karimi
KEYWORDS:
Thalassemia Minor, Aggression, Suicide
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.1 No.1,
April
29,
2010
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.