The Relationship Between Air Pollution and Suicide Attempts in Children

Abstract

Objective: In this study we aimed to investigate the relationship between acute exposure to air pollution and suicide attempts in children. Method: In this study, we retrospectively investigated over a 10-year period the likely relationship between suicide attempts in children, two air pollutants (PM10 and SO2), and meteorological factors affecting their life-endangering behavior. Results: We have determined that every one-unit increase in air pollution level of PM10 increased the risk of suicide attemps 1,002 times in all cases (p=0.016). One unit increase in air pressure, relative humidity, and wind speed increased the risk of suicide attemps in all cases 1,064 (p=0.014), 1,012 (p=0.045), 1,400 (p<0.0001) times, respectively. No statistical significance was found wih respect to air pollution level of SO2. Conclusion: This study revealed that even small increases in ambient air pollutant levels increased hospital admissions due to suicide attemps, and that meteorological conditions aggravating air pollution also act as predisposing factors.

Keywords

• air pollution
• meteorological factors
• suicide attempts