6533b7d0fe1ef96bd125ba1c
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Suicide and Ambient Temperature: A Multi-Country Multi-City Study
Masahiro HashizumeYeonseung ChungFrancesco SeraNoah ScovronickAntonella ZanobettiAnna KoshelevaChris Fook Sheng NgFiorella AcquaottaJoel SchwartzMichelle L. BellPaulo Hilário Nascimento SaldivaAna M. Vicedo-cabreraYueliang Leon GuoYueliang Leon GuoAurelio TobiasCarmen IñiguezMicheline De Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio CoelhoAntonio GasparriniXerxes SeposoHo KimYasushi HondaTran Ngoc DangTran Ngoc DangEric LavigneEric LavigneMartina S. RagettliMartina S. RagettliBen ArmstrongYoonhee KimBing-yu Chensubject
RiskCanadaHot TemperatureHealth Toxicology and MutagenesisPhilippinesMEDLINETaiwan010501 environmental sciencesTemperature a01 natural sciences03 medical and health sciencesSouth Africa0302 clinical medicineJapanRisk FactorsEnvironmental healthBrazil; Canada; Cities; Hot Temperature; Humans; Japan; Philippines; Republic of Korea; Risk; South Africa; Spain; Suicide; Switzerland; Taiwan; United Kingdom; United States; VietnamRepublic of KoreaShort-term temperature–suicide relationshipHumans030212 general & internal medicineCities0105 earth and related environmental sciencesAmbient TemperatureExtramuralResearchPublic Health Environmental and Occupational HealthTemperatureUnited KingdomUnited States3. Good healthSuicideGeographyVietnam13. Climate actionSpainDisease SusceptibilityBrazilSwitzerlandMulti countrydescription
Background: Previous literature suggests that higher ambient temperature may play a role in increasing the risk of suicide. However, no multi-country study has explored the shape of the association and the role of moderate and extreme heat across different locations. Objectives: We examined the short-term temperature–suicide relationship using daily time-series data collected for 341 locations in 12 countries for periods ranging from 4 to 40 y. Methods: We conducted a two-stage meta-analysis. First, we performed location-specific time-stratified case-crossover analyses to examine the temperature–suicide association for each location. Then, we used a multivariate meta-regression to combine the location-specific lag-cumulative nonlinear associations across all locations and by country. Results: A total of 1,320,148 suicides were included in this study. Higher ambient temperature was associated with an increased risk of suicide in general, and we observed a nonlinear association (inverted J-shaped curve) with the highest risk at 27°C. The relative risk (RR) for the highest risk was 1.33 (95% CI: 1.30, 1.36) compared with the risk at the first percentile. Country-specific results showed that the nonlinear associations were more obvious in northeast Asia (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan). The temperature with the highest risk of suicide ranged from the 87th to 88th percentiles in the northeast Asian countries, whereas this value was the 99th percentile in Western countries (Canada, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States) and South Africa, where nearly linear associations were estimated. The country-specific RRs ranged from 1.31 (95% CI: 1.19, 1.44) in the United States to 1.65 (95% CI: 1.40, 1.93) in Taiwan, excluding countries where the results were substantially uncertain. Discussion: Our findings showed that the risk of suicide increased with increasing ambient temperature in many countries, but to varying extents and not necessarily linearly. This temperature–suicide association should be interpreted cautiously, and further evidence of the relationship and modifying factors is needed. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4898
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-11-26 | Environmental Health Perspectives |