Citation

Frutos AM, Sloan CD, Merrill RM. PLoS One 2018; 13(12): e0206992.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health, College of Life Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Public Library of Science)

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0206992

PMID

30517125

Abstract

Low atmospheric pressure may increase depression and suicide through inducing hypoxia. Previous studies have not evaluated the geographic variation of this relationship across the United States. Analyses were based on three groupings of age-adjusted completed suicide rates (all suicide, firearm-related suicide, non-firearm-related suicide) from 2286 counties in the United States. Multiple regression was used to determine the overall relationship between atmospheric pressure and completed suicide rates. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) models were used to obtain local coefficient estimates. A negative correlation between atmospheric pressure and completed suicide rates was observed for all three suicide groupings (p-value <0.0001). Significant, negative GWR coefficient estimates were located in the West and Northeast for the all suicides and firearm-related suicides, and in the Midwest for non-firearm-related suicides.

Language: en