Journal of Affective Disorders
Volume 102, Issue 1 , Pages 19-25 , September 2007

Global warming possibly linked to an enhanced risk of suicide: Data from Italy, 1974–2003

  • A. Preti

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, University of Cagliari, Italy
    • Genneruxi Medical Center, Cagliari, Italy
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Centro Medico Genneruxi, via Costantinopoli 42, I-09129 Cagliari, Italy.
    web address
    • ,
  • G. Lentini

      Affiliations

    • Istituto di Fisica Generale Applicata, Sezione di Climatologia Storica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Brera 28, 20121 Milano, Italy
    • ,
  • M. Maugeri

      Affiliations

    • Istituto di Fisica Generale Applicata, Sezione di Climatologia Storica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Brera 28, 20121 Milano, Italy

Received 27 October 2006 ,Revised 2 December 2006 ,Accepted 4 December 2006.

References 

  1. Adelmann HG. A frequency-domain Gaussian filter module for quantitative and and reproducible high-pass, low-pass, and bandpass filtering of images. Am. Lab. 1997;29:27–33
  2. Ajdacic-Gross V, Bopp M, Sansossio R, Lauber C, Gostynski M, Eich D, et al. Diversity and change in suicide seasonality over 125 years. J. Epidemiol. Community Health. 2005;59:967–972
  3. Baldassano CF. Illness course, comorbidity, gender, and suicidality in patients with bipolar disorder. J. Clin. Psychiatry. 2006;67(Suppl 11):8–11
  4. Basu R, Samet J. Relation between elevated ambient temperature and mortality association in seven US cities. Epidemiol. Rev. 2002;24:190–202
  5. Brady KT, Randall CL. Gender differences in substance use disorders. Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. 1999;22:241–252
  6. Bray I, Gunnell D. Suicide rates, life satisfaction and happiness as markers for population mental health. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2006;41:333–337
  7. Bridges FS, Yip PS, Yang KC. Seasonal changes in suicide in the United States, 1971 to 2000. Percept. Mot. Skills. 2005;100:920–924
  8. Brunetti M, Maugeri M, Monti F, Nanni T. Temperature and precipitation variability in Italy in the last two centuries from homogenized instrumental time series. Int. J. Climatol. 2006;26:345–381
  9. Canetto SS, Sakinofsky I. The gender paradox in suicide. Suicide Life-Threat. Behav. 1998;28:1–23
  10. Carson C, Hajat S, Armstrong B, Wilkinson P. Declining vulnerability to temperature-related mortality in London over the 20th century. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2006;164:77–84
  11. Chew KSY, McCleary R. A life course theory of suicide risk. Suicide Life-Threat. Behav. 1994;24:234–244
  12. Chishti P, Stone DH, Corcoran P, Williamson E, Petridou E EUROSAVE Working Group. Suicide mortality in the European Union. Eur. J. Public Health. 2003;13:108–114
  13. Cohen J. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. second ed.. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; 1988;
  14. Deisenhammer EA. Weather and suicide: the present state of knowledge on the association of meteorological factors with suicidal behaviour. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 2003;108:402–409
  15. De Leo D, Conforti D, Carollo G. A century of suicide in Italy: a comparison between the old and the young. Suicide Life-Threat. Behav. 1997;27:239–249
  16. Haines A, Kovats RS, Campbell-Lendrum D, Corvalan C. Climate change and human health: impacts, vulnerability, and mitigation. Lancet. 2006;367:2101–2109
  17. Hajat S, Kovats RS, Atkinson RW, Haines A. Impact of hot temperatures on death in London: a time series approach. J. Epidemiol. Community Health. 2002;56:367–372
  18. Harris EC, Barraclough BM. Suicide as an outcome for medical disorders. Medicine. 1994;73:281–296
  19. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) . Climate change, 2001: the scientific basis. In: Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2001;881 pp.
  20. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) . Describing scientific uncertainties in climate change to support analysis of risk and of options. In: Workshop report of the IPCC, Dublin, 2004. 2004;Also available online at http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/meeting/URW/product/URW_Report_v2.pdf
  21. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) . Workshop on Climate Sensitivity, Paris, 2004. 2004;Also available online at http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/meeting/CSW/product/CSW_Report.pdf
  22. Joiner TE, Brown JS, Wingate LR. The psychology and neurobiology of suicidal behavior. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2005;56:287–314
  23. Koivumaa-Honkanen H, Honkanen R, Viinamaki H, Heikkila K, Kaprio J, Koskenvuo M. Life satisfaction and suicide: a 20-year follow-up study. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2001;158:433–439
  24. Lambert G, Reid C, Kaye D, Jennings G, Esler M. Increased suicide rate in the middle-aged and its association with hours of sunlight. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2003;160:793–795
  25. Lee HC, Lin HC, Tsai SY, Li CY, Chen CC, Huang CC. Suicide rates and the association with climate: a population-based study. J. Affect. Disord. 2006;92:221–226
  26. Levi F, La Vecchia C, Lucchini F, et al. Trends in mortality from suicide, 1965–99. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 2003;108:341–349
  27. MacFarlane A. Daily mortality and environment in English conurbations. II. Deaths during summer hot spells in Greater London. Environ. Res. 1978;15:332–341
  28. Maes M, De Meyer F, Thompson P, Peeters D, Cosyns P. Synchronized annual rhythms in violent suicide rate, ambient temperature and the light–dark span. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 1994;90:391–396
  29. McMichael AJ, Woodruff RE, Hales S. Climate change and human health: present and future risks. Lancet. 2006;367:859–869
  30. Meehl GA, Zwiers F, Evans J, Knutson T, Mearns L, Whetton P. Trends in extreme weather and climate events: issues related to modelling extremes in projections of future climate change. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 2000;81:427–436
  31. Michelozzi P, De Sario M, Accetta G, et al. Temperature and summer mortality: geographical and temporal variations in four Italian cities. J. Epidemiol. Community Health. 2006;60:417–423
  32. Nakaji S, Parodi S, Fontana V, et al. Seasonal changes in mortality rates from main causes of death in Japan (1970–1999). Eur. J. Epidemiol. 2004;19:905–913
  33. Nisbet PA. Protective factors for suicidal black females. Suicide Life-Threat. Behav. 1996;26:325–341
  34. Paris J. Gender differences in personality traits and disorders. Curr. Psychiatry Rep. 2004;6:71–74
  35. Patz JA, Campbell-Lendrum D, Holloway T, Foley JA. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature. 2005;438:310–317
  36. Preti A. The influence of seasonal change on suicidal behaviour in Italy. J. Affect. Disord. 1997;44:123–130
  37. Preti A. Seasonal variation and meteotropism in suicide: clinical relevance of findings and implications for research. Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2002;14:17–28
  38. Pritchard C, Baldwin D, Mayers A. Changing patterns of adult (45–74 years) neurological deaths in the major Western world countries 1979–1997. Public Health. 2004;118:268–283
  39. Pritchard C, Hansen L. Comparison of suicide in people aged 65–74 and 75+ by gender in England and Wales and the major Western countries 1979–1999. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry. 2005;20:17–25
  40. Rihmer Z. Can better recognition and treatment of depression reduce suicide rates? A brief review. Eur. Psychiatry. 2001;16:406–409
  41. Rocchi MBL, Miotto P, Preti A. Seasonal variation in suicides and in deaths by unintentional illicit acute drug intoxications. Addiction Biol. 2004;9:255–263
  42. Rocchi, M.B.L., Sisti, D., Cascio, M.T., Preti, A., in press. Seasonality and suicide in Italy: amplitude is positively related to suicide rates. J. Affect. Disord. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.10.003.
  43. Rock D, Greenberg DM, Hallmayer JF. Increasing seasonality of suicide in Australia 1970–1999. Psychiatry Res. 2003;120:43–51
  44. Schär C, Vidale PL, Luthi D, et al. The role of increasing temperature variability in European summer heatwaves. Nature. 2004;427:1–4
  45. Schwartz J. Who is sensitive to extremes of temperature? A case-only analysis. Epidemiology. 2005;16:67–72
  46. Wehr TA, Rosenthal NE. Seasonality and affective illness. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1989;146:829–839
  47. World Health Organization . Figures and Facts about Suicide. Geneve: WHO Press; 1999;
  48. Yip PSF, Chao A, Chiu CWF. Seasonal variation in suicides: diminished or vanished. Br. J. Psychiatry. 2000;177:366–369
  49. Zeller JL. High suicide risk found in patients with head and neck cancer. JAMA. 2006;296:1716–1717

PII: S0165-0327(06)00532-5

doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2006.12.003

Journal of Affective Disorders
Volume 102, Issue 1 , Pages 19-25 , September 2007

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution