Chemical components of ambient particulate air pollution affecting suicides in Thailand

Abstract

This research studied correlation between suicide risks and chemical components of particulate matter in Thailand. It employed satellite data on atmospheric particulate matter. Analysis for correlation between data on chemical components of particulate matter—a type of accumulated pollution in Thailand from 2010 to 2017—and suicidal incidents in 2018. The methodologies consisted of Bayesian hierarchical spatiotemporal model and the Poisson log-linear model, which referred to the NASA database; aerosol diagnostics model, Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2); and database from the Bureau of Policy and Strategy Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. A total of 4,756 patients selected for this study accounted for annual suicide rate of 7.16 per 100,000 population. Suicides in Thailand are related to chemical components of particulate matter. This research thus found that every 1 μg/m 3 increase of dust- PM2.5, only PM2.5 was related to the risks of suicide (which increased for approximately 63.5 %). Black carbon, Organic carbon, and sulfate, however, had no statistically significant effects. Volume of atmospheric accumulated dust- PM2.5 correlated to increase in suicide risks, with statistical significance.

Keywords

• Suicides
• Air pollution
• Dust- PM2.5
• Black carbon
• Organic carbon
• Sulfate