The quality of air can influence a person’s mental health, according to the results of a new study. The research indicates a causal connection between air pollution and suicide rates, suggesting that initiatives to improve air quality can decrease suicide deaths.
Researchers from India and the U.S. who conducted the study found that suicide rates increase substantially when air pollution rises and the effect was particularly strong in the elderly, with older women 2.5 times more at risk than other groups. The study also estimated that China’s measures to reduce air pollution in the country have successfully averted 46,000 suicide deaths over five years.
There is an established link between air pollution and physical health issues and increased risk of a spectrum of conditions, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer. However, according to Tamma Carleton, the study’s co-lead author, these environmental factors can take a toll on mental health as well.
“We often think about suicide and mental health as a problem to be understood and solved at an individual level. This result points to the important role of public policy, of environmental policy, in mitigating mental health and suicide crises outside of individual-level intervention,” Carleton said in a news release.
Carleton previously studied the impact of temperature on suicide rates in India and observed a correlation where elevated temperatures led to increased suicide rates. When she and co-lead author Peng Zhang noticed a more rapid decline in suicide rates in China compared to the global average, they decided to explore the connection between the country’s recent efforts to combat air pollution and the observed decrease in suicide rates.
To conduct their study, the researchers collected demographic data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention between 2013 and 2017. Additionally, they obtained meteorological data from the China Meteorological Data Service Center. The primary…
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