Drought and hotter temperature impacts on suicide: Evidence from the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

The Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) is Australia’s prime agricultural region, where drought and hotter weather pose a significant threat to rural residents’ mental health – hence increasing their potential suicide risk. We investigate the impact of drought and hotter temperatures on monthly suicide within local areas in the MDB, from 2006–2016. Using Poisson fixed-effects regression modeling, […]

Climate-related shocks and other stressors associated with depression and anxiety in Bangladesh: A nationally representative panel study

Background Climate change has major implications for common mental disorders including depression and anxiety in vulnerable nations such as Bangladesh. However, knowledge gaps exist around national estimations of depression and anxiety, and the associations between the prevalence of these disorders with climate-related and sociodemographic risk factors. To address these gaps, this study analysed data from […]

Study of suicide trends and some kind of factor in several Japan’s prefectures: For the future study in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Background: Many countries with high suicide rates may also experience heavy yearly snowfalls. We speculated that Japan’s prefectures that have high suicide rates may be in regions with heavy snowfall. Although many suicide-related factors have been studied, few investigations have examined the effects of snow on suicide. Objective: We investigated regions of Japan along the […]

Association of weekly suicide rates with temperature anomalies in two different climate types

Annual suicide deaths outnumber the total deaths from homicide and war combined. Suicide is a complex behavioral endpoint, and a simple cause-and-effect model seems highly unlikely, but relationships with weather could yield important insight into the biopsychosocial mechanisms involved in suicide deaths. This study has been designed to test for a relationship between air temperature […]

Real-time suicide surveillance supporting policy and practice

Suicide mortality rates are a strong indicator of population mental-health and can be used to determine the efficacy of prevention measures. Monitoring suicide mortality rates in real-time provides an evidence-base to inform targeted interventions in a timely manner and accelerate suicide prevention responses. This paper outlines the importance of real-time suicide surveillance in the context […]

The environment and suicide: Why suicidologists should support climate change policies

When suicidologists consider how the environment may impact suicide, they typically focus on the social and economic environment and the interpersonal environment. For the former, Lester and Yang (1997) documented how factors such as the business cycle might impact suicide rates while, many years ago, Platt (1984) showed that unemployment increased suicide rates. As for the interpersonal environment, in […]

The need for collective awareness of attempted suicide rates in a warming climate

Background: Climate factors may offer a stronger explanation of the variations in suicide rates compared with economic variables, even in the case of patients admitted involuntarily. Aims: We assessed the role of temperature as a determinant of the increased prevalence of suicide attempts (SA). Method: The sample comprised all cases of hospitalization for SA at the Psychiatric Clinic of the […]

Correlating heatwaves and relative humidity with suicide (fatal intentional self-harm)

Empirical evidence suggests that the effects of anthropogenic climate change, and heat in particular, could have a significant impact on mental health. This article investigates the correlation between heatwaves and/or relative humidity and suicide (fatal intentional self-harm) on a global scale. The covariance between heat/humidity and suicide was modelled using a negative binomial Poisson regression […]

Effectiveness of mental health intervention for suicide prevention

Background Associations between high and low temperatures and increases in mortality and morbidity have been previously reported, yet no comprehensive assessment of disease burden has been done. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the global and regional burden due to non-optimal temperature exposure. Methods In part 1 of this study, we linked deaths to daily temperature […]

Suicide and apparent temperature in the two capitals [sic] cities in the Iberian peninsula

Different authors have identified geographic variations in the rates of suicide. This study aims to discuss the limitations of the officially recorded suicide data and to evaluate the statistical relationship between a biometeorological index, Apparent Temperature (AT), and suicide in Madrid and Lisbon. We performed a time-series study. The association was analyzed using a quasi-Poisson […]

Global suicide rates and climatic temperature

Global suicide rates vary by country, yet the cause of this variability has not yet been explained satisfactorily. In this study, we analyzed averaged suicide rates and annual mean temperature in the early 21st century for 183 countries worldwide, and our results suggest that suicide rates vary with climatic temperature. The lowest suicide rates were […]

Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico.

Linkages between climate and mental health are often theorized but remain poorly quantified. In particular, it is unknown whether the rate of suicide, a leading cause of death globally, is systematically affected by climatic conditions. Using comprehensive data from multiple decades for both the United States and Mexico, we find that suicide rates rise 0.7% […]

Association between completed suicide and environmental temperature in a Mexican population, using the Knowledge Discovery in Database approach.

Background and objective Suicide is a worldwide health problem and climatological characteristics have been associated with suicide behavior. However, approaches such as the Knowledge Discovery in Database are not frequently used to search for an association between climatological characteristics and suicide. The aim of the present study was to assess the association between weather data […]

Global Warming Possibly Linked to an Enhanced Risk of Suicide: Data From Italy, 1974-2003

This study explored the impact of global warming on suicide mortality, using data from Italy. Monthly data on suicide mortality & temperature were obtained for 1974-2003 & the relation between them was investigated using the Gaussian low-pass filter, linear correlation analysis, & rank analysis. For males, increasing anomalies in monthly average temperatures associated to a […]

Climate-Suicide Relationships: a Research Problem in Need of Geographic Methods and Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives

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Seasonality of Suicide in the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1979-2003

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Preliminary Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Association Between Socio-Environmental Factors and Suicide

This study examined the association of climate, socioeconomic, & demographic factors with suicide in Queensland, Australia using a spatiotemporal approach. Seasonal data on suicide, demographic variables, & socioeconomic indexes for areas in each Local Government Area between 1999-2003 were acquired. A multvariable generalized estimating equation model was used to examine the impact of socio-environmental factors […]

Usage of the Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Help Line (NKHL): an Analysis of 11 Years’ of Database

Information collected from the crisis lines & the toll-free AIDS Information line operated by the Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Help Line was analyzed to assess the demographics of its users, the pattern of use & services delivered by the lines, & the association between the pattern of use of its local lines with the lunar phase & […]

Intentional Injury Mortality in the European Union: how Many More Lives Could be Saved?

Objective: To explore the scope for reducing the number of intentional injury deaths, hypothesizing that all European Union (EU) countries are able to match the experience of the country with the lowest mortality rate for intentional injuries. Design: Intentional injury mortality data for the three last available years and denominator population estimates were obtained from […]

Weather and Suicide: the Present State of Knowledge on the Association of Meteorological Factors With Suicidal Behaviour

27 studies on the association between daily & longer-term weather data & the incidence of attempted & completed suicide were reviewed. Most papers reported a statistical association of suicidal acts with at least one weather factor. However, the results are not conclusive & in part contradictory. Possibly due to the high variance in methodological approaches, […]

Are Socioeconomic Factors Valid Determinants of Suicide? Controlling for National Cultures of Suicide With Fixed-Effects Estimation

This article’s analysis employs a range of economic & social explanatory variables based on economic as well as Durkheimian sociological theory in fixed-effects & random-effects estimation of age-standardized suicide rates in a large panel of up to 68 countries during the period 1980 to 1999. The results suggest that economic & social factors affect cross-country […]

Farm Families in Times of Crisis: Drought, Health and Family Decision-Making

This proceeding presents a study of the effects of drought on rural farm families in Australia during the 1990s. A discussion of unique social characteristics in this population & the influences these may have on crisis coping strategies is included. Case study analyses indicate that crop failure (due to climactic conditions) imply a lack of […]

Intercountry Adoption, Climate, and Psychiatric Disorders

For the original article by Hjern, please see SIEC #2003-0806.