Polluted air has been linked to a range of illnesses including heart disease and asthma. But there’s another potentially fatal risk that researchers have uncovered.
Scientists at the University of Utah have found that breathing in air pollution increases the chances of suicide. The risk is particularly elevated for middle-aged men.
The 10-year study of people in Salt Lake City showed that suicides increased after the air was high in nitrogen dioxide or particulate matter. The risk was greatest in men aged 36 to 64.
An analysis of about 1,500 people who committed suicide in Salt Lake County between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2010 demonstrated that the chances dying by suicide were 20 percent higher for those exposed to increased levels of nitrogen dioxide in the two to three days before their deaths. In addition, people breathing in higher levels of fine particulate matter in the two to three days before a suicide had a 5 percent higher risk of suicide.
The study also showed that the risk peaked in the spring and fall but not during the winter.
Researcher Amanda Bakian notes that her study doesn’t prove that air pollution leads people to commit suicide, but it suggests that increased amounts of air pollution may interact with other factors to increase suicide risk for suicide. She adds that groups more at risk for suicide linked to air pollution may be exposed to “higher levels of air pollution or that other additional factors…” may be responsible.