The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review

Sarah L. Cornelius, Tara Berry, Amanda J. Goodrich, Brian Shiner and Natalie B. Riblet
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Sarah L. Cornelius: VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT 05009, USA
Tara Berry: VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT 05009, USA
Amanda J. Goodrich: Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
Brian Shiner: VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT 05009, USA
Natalie B. Riblet: VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT 05009, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: Suicide is a significant public health concern worldwide and in the United States. Despite the far-reaching impact of suicide, risk factors are still not well understood and efforts to accurately assess risk have fallen short. Current research has highlighted how potentially modifiable environmental exposures (i.e., meteorological, pollution, and geographic exposures) can affect suicide risk. A scoping review was conducted to evaluate the strength of the historical and current literature on the environment’s effect on suicide and suicide risk. Three databases (i.e., Medline, Embase, and PsychInfo) were reviewed to identify relevant studies and two authors independently reviewed studies considering pre-determined inclusion criteria. A total of 46 meteorological studies were included as well as 23 pollution studies and 12 geographic studies. Descriptive statistics, including counts, percentages, review of studies’ sample size (minimum, maximum, median, and interquartile range), were calculated using Excel and SAS 9.4. Overall, strong evidence supports that exposure to sunlight, temperature, air pollution, pesticides, and high altitude increases suicide risk, although effect sizes range from very small to small.

Keywords: suicide; meteorology; weather; pollution; geography; altitude (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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