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

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posted on 2023-06-10, 01:49 authored by Fernando Florido Ngu, Ilan Kelman, Jonathan Chambers, Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson
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 with data from 60 countries between 1979–2016. Statistically significant increases and decreases in suicide were found, as well as many cases with no significant correlation. We found that relative humidity showed a more significant correlation with suicide compared to heatwaves and that both younger age groups and women seemed to be more significantly affected by changes in humidity and heatwave counts in comparison with the rest of the population. Further research is needed to provide a larger and more consistent basis for epidemiological studies; to understand better the connections among heat, humidity and mental health; and to explore in more detail which population groups are particularly impacted and why.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Scientific Reports

ISSN

2045-2322

Publisher

Nature Research

Issue

1

Volume

11

Page range

1-9

Article number

a22175

Department affiliated with

  • Global Health and Infection Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2021-11-18

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2021-11-18

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2021-11-18

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