High altitude living - even at pretty modest altitude -
seems associated with more suicide:
High-altitude areas--particularly the US intermountain states--have increased rates of suicide and depression, suggests a review of research evidence in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.
The increased suicide rates might be explained by blood oxygen
levels due to low atmospheric pressure, according to the article by
Brent Michael Kious, MD, PhD, of University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and
colleagues. Pending further research, the evidence may point to
possible treatments to reduce the effects of low blood oxygen on mood
and suicidal thoughts....
They analyzed 12 studies, most performed in the United States,
including population-based data on the relationship between suicide or
depression and altitude. While the studies used varying methods, most
reported that higher-altitude areas had increased rates of depression
and suicide. In general, the correlation was stronger for suicide than
for depression.
The highest suicide rates were clustered in the intermountain
states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and
Wyoming. (Alaska and Virginia also had high suicide rates.) In a 2014
study, the percentage of adults with "serious thoughts of suicide"
ranged from 3.3 percent in Connecticut (average altitude 490 feet) to
4.9 percent in Utah (average altitude 6,100 feet).
Other key findings from previous research on altitude and suicide included:
- Populations living at higher altitudes had increased
suicide rates despite having decreased rates of death from all causes.
Rather than a steady increase, the studies suggested a "threshold
effect": suicide rates increased dramatically at altitudes between about
2,000 and 3,000 feet.
- Suicide rates were more strongly associated with altitude than
with firearm ownership. Other factors linked to suicide rate included
increased poverty rate, lower income, and smaller population ratios of
white and divorced women. However, the studies could not account for all
factors potentially affecting variations in suicide, such as substance
abuse rates and cultural differences.
- While more than 80 percent of US suicides occur in
low-altitude areas, that's because most of the population lives near sea
level. Adjusted for population distribution, suicide rates per 100,000
population were 17.7 at high altitude, 11.9 at middle altitude, and 4.8
at low altitude. Studies from some other countries, but not all, also
reported increased suicide rates at higher altitudes.
I find this quite surprising.
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