title: Altered glucose tolerance in women with deliberate self-harm.
abstract: Disturbances in glucose metabolism are of importance for violent behaviour in men, but studies in women are lacking. We used the 5h-oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in this study of 17 female psychiatric patients, selected for violent behaviour directed against themselves (deliberate self-harm) and 17 healthy controls matched for age and BMI. Following OGTT, patients had higher glucose levels at 30 min (p=0.007) and increased glucagon area under the curve (p=0.011). Since a co-morbid eating disorder might affect results, we as a post-hoc analysis subgrouped the patients and found that the increased glucagon levels only were present in patients with an eating disorder. In contrast, those without an eating disorder showed a significantly lower p-glucose nadir (p=0.015) and unaltered glucagon levels compared to controls. There were no significant differences in insulin and C-peptide levels between patients and controls. We conclude that deliberate self-harm in women may be associated with alterations in carbohydrate metabolism in certain groups. Eating disorder is a confounding factor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry, Lund University, 221 85 Lund, Sweden. sofie.westling@med.lu.se
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Westling
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahrén
authors.forename: Charlotta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sunnqvist
authors.forename: Lil
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Träskman-Bendz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D002096:C-Peptide / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D018149:Glucose Intolerance / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D002096:C-Peptide; D007328:Insulin