The short-term effects of fine dust on suicide death in Korea

Abstract

Air pollution can cause various respiratory and neurological diseases and lead to death if continuously exposed. Previous studies have reported that fine dust increases the risk of mental illness such as stress, depression, suicidal ideation, and physical health problems. This study aims to identify the relationship between air pollution and suicide deaths. Fine dust data from the Korea Environment Corporation, autopsy data from the National Police Agency, and death statistics database from the National Statistical Office were used. Additionally, meteorological data and claim data were used. The study design was time series analysis, and we confirmed the effect of single lag, cumulative lag, and moving average of the amount of fine dust from day 0 to day 7 using a distributed non-linear model. We analyzed 64,150 people who died by suicide from 2013 to 2017 and confirmed the statistically significant result that as the PM₁₀ concentration increased, the risk of suicide death increased. Also, as the cumulative number of days increased from 1 to 7 days, the dose-response effect of increasing the risk of suicide was confirmed. Stratified analysis was performed according to gender, age, presence of a suicide note, presence of mental illness, and presence of warning signs before suicide. In particular, in subjects with psychiatric disorders, when the cumulative concentration of PM₂.₅ until 3 days and 5 days before suicide death increased by 10μg/m³, the risk of suicide death increased by 3.1% and 3.2%, respectively. These results show an association between short-term exposure to fine dust and suicide deaths. It can be suggested that more attention should be paid to fine dust exposure, especially in the group with a vulnerable mental illness.