The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review

Cornelius, Sarah L.; Berry, Tara; Goodrich, Amanda J.; Shiner, Brian; Riblet, Natalie B.

doi:10.3390/ijerph18157809

Open AccessReview

The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review

by

Sarah L. Cornelius

^1,*,

Tara Berry

¹,

Amanda J. Goodrich

²,

Brian Shiner

^1,3

and

Natalie B. Riblet

^1,3

¹

VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT 05009, USA

²

Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA

³

Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(15), 7809; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157809

Submission received: 10 June 2021 / Revised: 7 July 2021 / Accepted: 20 July 2021 / Published: 23 July 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mental Health Care and Promotion)

Download

Browse Figure

Versions Notes

Abstract

Suicide is a significant public health concern worldwide and in the United States. Despite the far-reaching impact of suicide, risk factors are still not well understood and efforts to accurately assess risk have fallen short. Current research has highlighted how potentially modifiable environmental exposures (i.e., meteorological, pollution, and geographic exposures) can affect suicide risk. A scoping review was conducted to evaluate the strength of the historical and current literature on the environment’s effect on suicide and suicide risk. Three databases (i.e., Medline, Embase, and PsychInfo) were reviewed to identify relevant studies and two authors independently reviewed studies considering pre-determined inclusion criteria. A total of 46 meteorological studies were included as well as 23 pollution studies and 12 geographic studies. Descriptive statistics, including counts, percentages, review of studies’ sample size (minimum, maximum, median, and interquartile range), were calculated using Excel and SAS 9.4. Overall, strong evidence supports that exposure to sunlight, temperature, air pollution, pesticides, and high altitude increases suicide risk, although effect sizes range from very small to small.

Keywords: suicide; meteorology; weather; pollution; geography; altitude

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Cornelius, S.L.; Berry, T.; Goodrich, A.J.; Shiner, B.; Riblet, N.B. The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 7809. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157809

AMA Style

Cornelius SL, Berry T, Goodrich AJ, Shiner B, Riblet NB. The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(15):7809. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157809

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cornelius, Sarah L., Tara Berry, Amanda J. Goodrich, Brian Shiner, and Natalie B. Riblet. 2021. "The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 15: 7809. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157809

APA Style

Cornelius, S. L., Berry, T., Goodrich, A. J., Shiner, B., & Riblet, N. B. (2021). The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(15), 7809. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157809

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

The Effect of Meteorological, Pollution, and Geographic Exposures on Death by Suicide: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI