Tobacco Consumption and National Rates of Personal Violence (Suicide and Homicide)

In this letter to the editor, Lester briefly reports on a study exploring the association of tobacco consumption & rates of suicide & homicide over time in Norway. Simple Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that the percentage of smokers was negatively associated with male suicide & homicide rates but not with female suicide & homicide rates. Results suggest the possibility that national levels of tobacco consumption over time might be an indicator of national levels of depression. (6 refs.)