A study points out the correlation between the increase in global temperature and suicides

It is known and highly denounced that the climate changethat he global warmingis causing serious health problems in the population. Especially the type cardiorespiratory and carcinogenic. What now the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona proposes, in a meta-study (a study on numerous already existing partial analyses) is that there is also a correlation between global warming and worsening mental health. And, specifically, the increase in suicides. Correlation does not mean that a cause-effect relationship is established, as the authors specify, because suicide, specifically, always has multiple causes. Furthermore, the study, based on analyzing 284 previous research and climate data since 1800, admits that the data includes several limitations that prevent reaching closed conclusions.

The work has been led by two teams: the Image of Mood and Anxiety Related Disorders (IMARD) group, led by Joaquim Raduàand that of bipolar and depressive disorders, headed by an international expert, Edward Vieta, head of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Clínic. According to this analysis, Global warming may have increased suicide cases by 5%. And the forecast is that the increase will continue to grow, until in 25 years it will be 7%.

Also, always according to this study, suicidal behaviors and hospital admissions due to self-harm risk have increased. This study has been published in the journal ‘World Psychiatry’. Vieta assures that “the correlation [entre aumento de temperatura y de suicidios] It is very robust; Suicide is multifactorial but everything indicates that extreme heat contributes to it to a certain extent,” says this expert. “We cannot separate mental health from physical health, and these data They have to make us reflect not only on pollutants, but on lifestyle which is not very good for mental or metabolic health,” says Vieta.

Vieta specifically explains that what has been detected, in all the studies, is that every time there are notable increases in temperature there is an increase in suicides and that the pattern repeats. “Every time we see this, there is a relationship, so the relationship is robust,” she adds. Specifically, the expert details that “at a neurobiological level, Heat stress situations generate an increase in cortisol, and this generates changes in serotonin and a series of neurotransmitters“There are theoretical mechanisms in this regard and the mechanism behind it must be analyzed with more international studies, but it has been shown that increases in temperature generate emotional discomfort that, added to other factors, generate problems that can lead to suicidal behavior.” , Add.

Limitations of the study

At the same time, the work includes “some limitations.” The first is that it is based on what has already been published, without being able to establish new relationships between data. The second, that the quality of the systematic reviews “was generally low.” And the third, that although there is an increase in global temperature and mental health risk, “we do not assume that a reduction in the same given exposure [a las temperaturas] corresponds to a reduction in the risk of mental illness.” “Our evidence does not contradict that, for example, Exposure to extreme cold can also worsen mental health outcomes“he admits.

“The relationship between suicide and climate change may be indirect, but the association is very robust, which must be distinguished from whether it is the cause or the main one. people don’t commit suicide because the temperature rises“. This researcher recalls that the causes of suicide are often mental disorders and points out that temperature can be a “drop in the glass that is already almost full.”

“These data, together with the impact on physical health, force us in capital letters to urgently promote global initiatives“to stop climate change, he has claimed Raduà.

The study addresses other questions, such as whether being exposed for many years to solvent products (paints, enamels or varnishes) increases cases of dementia or cognitive impairment. Finally, an association is also established between being exposed to air polluting particles, from fossil fuel or factory smoke, and be more likely to suffer Postpartum depression. And that high levels of sulfur dioxide can increase relapses in people diagnosed with schizophrenia.