Suicide and Ambient Temperature: A Multi-City Multi-Country Study

Kim, Yoonhee; Kim, Ho; Gasparrini, Antonio; Armstrong, Ben; Honda, Yasushi; Chung, Yeonseung; Ng, Chris Fook Sheng; Hashizume, Masahiro

doi:10.1289/isesisee.2018.p03.0260

Cited by 12 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…spring in the Northern Hemisphere) and more sensitive to seasonal temperature changes that may increase suicide risks. Such acclimatisation has been observed in the studies that investigated the association between temperature and all-cause mortality (Chung et al, 2018;Sera et al, 2019) and the temperature-suicide association also (Kim et al, 2019;Sim et al, 2020). In addition, larger seasonality in communities with higher proportions of elderly people is consistent with larger amplitudes observed for older age groups in most countries.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…Also, the amplitude of seasonality was larger for the elderly population than for younger people in many countries. Although age group differences have been inconclusive in previous studies (Woo et al, 2012), our observation could relate to the temperature-suicide association reported as larger in elderly populations in some countries (Kim et al, 2019;Sim et al, 2020). The elderly may be more sensitive to seasonal temperature changes in terms of the risk of dying by suicide.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 52%

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Seasonality of suicide: a multi-country multi-community observational study

Yang

Kim

et al. 2020

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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Aims We aimed to investigate the heterogeneity of seasonal suicide patterns among multiple geographically, demographically and socioeconomically diverse populations. Methods Weekly time-series data of suicide counts for 354 communities in 12 countries during 1986–2016 were analysed. Two-stage analysis was performed. In the first stage, a generalised linear model, including cyclic splines, was used to estimate seasonal patterns of suicide for each community. In the second stage, the community-specific seasonal patterns were combined for each country using meta-regression. In addition, the community-specific seasonal patterns were regressed onto community-level socioeconomic, demographic and environmental indicators using meta-regression. Results We observed seasonal patterns in suicide, with the counts peaking in spring and declining to a trough in winter in most of the countries. However, the shape of seasonal patterns varied among countries from bimodal to unimodal seasonality. The amplitude of seasonal patterns (i.e. the peak/trough relative risk) also varied from 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.33–1.62) to 1.05 (95% CI: 1.01–1.1) among 12 countries. The subgroup difference in the seasonal pattern also varied over countries. In some countries, larger amplitude was shown for females and for the elderly population (≥65 years of age) than for males and for younger people, respectively. The subperiod difference also varied; some countries showed increasing seasonality while others showed a decrease or little change. Finally, the amplitude was larger for communities with colder climates, higher proportions of elderly people and lower unemployment rates (p-values < 0.05). Conclusions Despite the common features of a spring peak and a winter trough, seasonal suicide patterns were largely heterogeneous in shape, amplitude, subgroup differences and temporal changes among different populations, as influenced by climate, demographic and socioeconomic conditions. Our findings may help elucidate the underlying mechanisms of seasonal suicide patterns and aid in improving the design of population-specific suicide prevention programmes based on these patterns.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 52%

Seasonality of suicide: a multi-country multi-community observational study

Yang

Kim

et al. 2020

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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“…Several studies have reported that suicide is associated with the ambient temperature ( Page et al, 2007 , Likhvar et al, 2011 , Hanigan et al, 2012 , Dixon et al, 2014 , Williams et al, 2015 , Kim et al, 2016 , Bando et al, 2017 , Carleton, 2017 , Burke et al, 2018 , Dixon and Kalkstein, 2018 , Thompson et al, 2018 , Gao et al, 2019 , Kim et al, 2019 ). Earlier studies focused on a single location or a country, reporting consistent findings that the occurrence of suicide increased with the temperature ( Page et al, 2007 , Likhvar et al, 2011 , Williams et al, 2015 , Bando et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear temperature-suicide association in Japan from 1972 to 2015: Its heterogeneity and the role of climate, demographic, and socioeconomic factors

Sim

Kim

Hashizume

et al. 2020

Environment International

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Highlights Suicide risk increased with temperature but leveled off above 24.4 °C. Relative risk was larger for females than for males. Relative risk was larger for elderly people than for non-elderly people. Relative risk was significantly lower in the 2000 s over the period of 1972–2015. Relative risk was larger for rural prefectures and colder and drier regions.

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“…A recent study in Environmental Health Perspectives pooled climate and health data across multiple sites to further explore the exact shape of the association. 3 …”

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confidence: 99%

Hot Temperatures and Suicide Risk: New Insight into a Complex Topic

Nicole¹

2020

Environ Health Perspect

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Suicide and Ambient Temperature: A Multi-City Multi-Country Study

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Seasonality of suicide: a multi-country multi-community observational study

Seasonality of suicide: a multi-country multi-community observational study

Nonlinear temperature-suicide association in Japan from 1972 to 2015: Its heterogeneity and the role of climate, demographic, and socioeconomic factors

Hot Temperatures and Suicide Risk: New Insight into a Complex Topic

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