Air Pollution and Suicide in Mexico City: A Time Series Analysis, 2000–2016

Abstract

The association between air pollution and suicide has recently been under examination, and the findings continue to be contradictory. In order to contribute evidence to this still unresolved question, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the association between air quality and daily suicides registered in Mexico City (MC) between 2000 and 2016. Air quality was measured based on exposure to particulate matter under 2.5 and 10 micrometers (µm) (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), adjusting for weather variables (air temperature and relative humidity), and holidays. To this end, an ecologic time series analysis was performed using a Poisson regression model conditioned by time and stratified by gender and age groups. Models were also generated to explore the lagged and accumulative effects of air pollutants, adjusted by weather variables. The effects of the pollutants were very close to the null value in the majority of the models, and no accumulative effects were identified. We believe these results, in this case, no evidence of a statistical association, contribute to the current debate about whether the association between air pollution and suicide reported in the scientific literature reflects an actual effect or an uncontrolled confounding effect.

Association between ambient air pollution and mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Wuhan, China: a population-based time-series study

“…Many researches have explored the health effects of air pollution with time-series methods (Astudillo-García et al 2019 ; Guo et al 2017 ; Katsouyanni et al 1995 ; Luo et al 2020 ; Mokoena et al 2019 ), but few studies specifically measured the association between ambient air pollution and COPD mortality. Evidence on the short-term effects of ambient air pollution on COPD mortality is still not conclusive to date.…”

Relationship between chronic exposure to ambient air pollution and mental health in Korean adult cancer survivors and the general population

“…Moreover, several studies in South Korea have identified deleterious effects of both short- and long-term exposure to air pollutants on suicide [ 15 , 16 , 29 , 30 ]. However, recent results from Mexico City showed no evidence of an association between short-term air pollution exposure and daily suicides [ 31 ]. Similarly, a time series analysis showed no statistically significant associations between air pollution and suicide in four Colombian cities [ 32 ].…”

“…Other recent evidence has emphasized the importance of comorbidities in the association between air pollution and suicide [ 15 , 16 , 31 ]. In 2010, Kim et al showed that suicide risk from increased PM 10 exposure was particularly intensified among participants with preexisting cardiovascular disease, although no significant association was found between short-term PM 10 exposure and suicide in cancer patients [ 15 ].…”

“…In addition, a large-scale national cohort study in South Korea reported that the risk for completed suicide due to long-term exposure to air pollution is higher among those with a physical disease or mental disorder [ 16 ]. Astudillo-García et al also emphasized the mediating effect of comorbidities on the relations between air pollution and suicide [ 31 ]. Consistent with these previous studies, our results also demonstrate that participants who had received a cancer diagnosis were at a greater risk for suicidal ideation related to air pollution, particularly with PM 10 , exposure.…”

Association Between Ambient Air Pollution and Mortality From Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Wuhan, China: a Population-based Time-series Study

“…Many researches have explored the health effects of air pollution with time-series methods [13][14][15][16][17], but few studies speci c measured the association between ambient air pollution and COPD mortality. Furthermore, the characteristics of air pollution in different regions vary substantially.…”