Study links air pollution to death by suicide, suicidal thoughts

Pm2.5 | suicide prevention | Suicide Risk | PM10 | Nitrogen Dioxide | Environmental Health | Mental health | public health | Air Pollution | air quality

A review of available evidence has linked exposure to air pollutants with an increased risk of death by suicide or suicidal thoughts, with particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) posing the greatest risks.

The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, underscore the need to consider environmental exposures as potentially modifiable risk factors in suicide prevention strategies, researchers said.

The team from Queen’s University Belfast in the UK analysed results from 29 studies that looked at the effects of air pollution exposure on suicide and suicidal thoughts.

The interplay of individual, biological, and contextual factors means that suicide prevention is really a public health issue, they said.