Suicide Victims Have Heavier Brains

LONDON - British researchers say the brains of people who commit suicide are heavier than normal. A study by Emad Salib from Liverpool University and George Tadros from the Northern Birmingham Mental Health Trust is the first to report an increase in brain weight in suicide victims.

Salib and Tadros reviewed the coroners' records of people aged 60 and above, comparing the brains of 142 people suspected of having taken their own lives with the brains of 150 people who died of natural causes.
The suicide group's brains weighed more – averaging 1352 grams compared with 1238 grams for the natural causes group (the difference being about the weight of an egg).

One possible explanation is that depression may cause the brain to swell. Other research has found that people who are depressed and contemplate suicide have significantly heavier adrenal glands.

But the researchers say they need to do more research before declaring the true cause.

The report appears in the current issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.