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Suicide rates and temperatures are rising, but are these two events related? A new study may suggest this way. Research has revealed warmer than average months corresponded to more deaths by suicide – and the effect is not limited to the summer, even the hottest winters show the trend.
In the study, published in Nature Climate Change investigators examined all suicides that occurred in the United States and Mexico for several decades (from 1968 to 2004 for the United States and from 1990 to 2010 for Mexico), comprising respectively 851,088 and 611,366 deaths. They then observed how monthly temperature fluctuations during these periods in each county or municipality of the two countries correlated with suicide rates in that region. They found that for each temperature rise of 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), suicide rates increased by 0.7 percent in the United States and 2.1 percent in Mexico, increasing by an average of 1 percent. 4% in both countries. Over the years, a given county would see more suicide deaths in warmer months than average.
Notably, the average temperature of the county did not matter; for example, Dallas and Minneapolis saw a similar increase in suicide rates. The effect did not depend on the month either – it made no difference whether it was January or July. There was also no difference between sex, socioeconomic status, access to firearms, air conditioning and whether it was an urban area or rural. Overall, when temperatures have risen in a given place, the number of suicides has also increased. "Often, when you hear about climate change and the impacts of climate change, you hear this slogan" climate change will generate winners and losers, "says study author, Marshall Burke. "Some people could benefit from climate change, the idea being that if you live in a very cold place, things sometimes improve when you warm it up a bit.We do not find that for suicide." He continues: "Climate change in terms of suicide is not going to generate winners and losers, it's just going to generate losers – everyone, as far as we know – it does not matter if you live in a cold place or if you live in a warm place – everyone may be at risk of suicide when we increase the temperature. "
on its current trajectory with an estimated temperature increase of 2.5 degrees C (4.5 degrees F) by 2050, Burke, who is assistant professor of Earth System Science at Stanford University, would project suicide rates increase by 1.85 percent, resulting in suicide deaths across the states For the sake of comparison, the economic recession is thought to increase suicide rates by 0.8%, while news of celebrity suicides represents a 4.6% drop in rates.
However, not everyone is convinced by these projections. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, vice president of research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said, "I think it's an interesting and provocative idea. These two things can co-exist. You know, it's possible that the suicide rate goes up as the temperature goes up. But we do not know that there is something causal about that. "
In their study, researchers speculate that there may be a biological effect related to the regulation of brain temperature that impairs mental health and may underlie the correlation." In an attempt to link more generally mental well-being at the change of temperature, they examined more than 600 million Twitter messages for depressive language over a period of 14 months.The researchers found again warmer months corresponding to a higher probability of The earlier work of the researchers also saw a similar trend in interpersonal conflict, with a 4% increase in violence attributed to climate change.
Burke acknowledged that suicide is a phenomenon Complex and temperature is certainly not the only or most important factor affecting mental health: "What studies like ours contribute, it's simply to say on average, as the temperature rises, what will happen to the suicide rates? So, that will not tell you with the utmost certainty what will happen in specific places, but that will tell you that this is what we should expect on average. In our opinion, it would be imprudent to ignore the evidence, "he notes.
Radley Horton, a research associate professor at Columbia University who did not participate in the research, says that this study is a good reminder of the fundamental temperature. what is the magnitude of its impacts. "The deeper we look, the more likely we are to discover ways in which temperature has a direct impact on things that interest us," he says. "The climate uncertainty is not our friend.The more we push things, the greater the risk."
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