Suicides in the midnight sun—a study of seasonality in suicides in West Greenland

Björkstén, Karin Sparring; Bjerregaard, Peter; Kripke, Daniel F.

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2004.12.002

Cited by 49 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Living in the dark for several months could explain the high prevalence of SAD in northern Greenland. A study from West Greenland showed a seasonal variation in suicides with peaks in June and during the winter (29). According to those results, suicide and SAD in Greenland do not appear to be related.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The prevalence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Greenland is related to latitude

Kegel

Dam

Ali³

et al. 2009

Nordic Journal of Psychiatry

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The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Greenlanders and Danes living at four different latitudes in Greenland. A Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) was mailed to 6021 men and women between the ages of 18 and 59 years living in four different municipalities in Greenland. The recipients were randomly selected from the National Population Register. Approximately 9% of the respondents met the criteria for SAD, and the incidence of SAD varied between a southern municipality and three northern municipalities. The prevalence of SAD was particularly high in northern municipalities. No significant difference was found in the prevalence of SAD between Greenlanders and Danes. The results are comparable with other population studies that have reported a high prevalence of SAD in arctic areas. The clinical implications of our findings and the possibilities for introducing light therapy should be assessed in future studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The prevalence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Greenland is related to latitude

Kegel

Dam

Ali³

et al. 2009

Nordic Journal of Psychiatry

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“…However, studies on the seasonality of adolescent suicides are rare, and the results are very contradictory and heterogenous. Previous publications [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] on seasonality of suicides involving youths are presented in table 1 . The results vary from no seasonal variation to strong seasonal (unimodal or bimodal) trends.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autumn Peak in Shooting Suicides of Children and Adolescents from Northern Finland

Lahti¹,

Räsänen²,

Karvonen³

et al. 2006

Neuropsychobiology

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Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among adolescents worldwide. Studies on the seasonal pattern of youth suicides are rare and the results are very contradictory and heterogeneous. Generally, suicide methods affect the pattern of suicide seasonality. Shooting is the most common suicide method among Finnish adolescents. We investigated whether shooting suicides of victims aged less than 18 years are correlated with a specific period of the year. Also, the seasonal pattern of shooting suicides in adolescents was compared with that of adult victims. Our data comprised 42 adolescent suicide victims and, for comparison, 1,926 adult suicide victims over the years 1988 to 2004 from Northern Finland.Of these, 59.5% (n = 25) of the adolescents and 28.8% (n = 554) of the adults had committed suicide by shooting.We observed that shooting suicides among the under-aged showed a significant peak in autumn (ratio 2.70, 95% CI: 1.97–3.42), while those of adult victims peaked in spring (ratio 1.19, 95% CI: 1.05–1.35). The monthly pattern of suicides correlated significantly with the mean duration of daily sunshine hours (trailing by 3 months) in the under-aged (r = 0.67, p = 0.016), but not in the adults (r = 0.06, p = 0.854). The role of firearm availability, psychosocial factors such as start of the school year, and some biological factors are discussed.

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“…Since seroton in levels fluctuate over the year (Singh, 1964;Wirz-Justice et al, 1977), we can expect, although it has not been shown, that the capacity for learning and memory may show a similar fluctuation. What has been shown to fluctuate is the incidence of suicides (Bjorksten et al, 2005;Dreyer, 1959). princ iple factor inv olved in regulatin g m ental healt h. H is theory was ba sed on his work with serot onin an d LSD.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Serotonin and Brain: Evolution, Neuroplasticity, and Homeostasis

Azmitia

2007

International Review of Neurobiology

129

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Suicides in the midnight sun—a study of seasonality in suicides in West Greenland

Cited by 49 publications

References 41 publications

The prevalence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Greenland is related to latitude

The prevalence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Greenland is related to latitude

Autumn Peak in Shooting Suicides of Children and Adolescents from Northern Finland

Serotonin and Brain: Evolution, Neuroplasticity, and Homeostasis

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