Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Does diurnal temperature range influence seasonal suicide mortality? Assessment of daily data of the Helsinki metropolitan area from 1973 to 2010

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Biometeorology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Several studies show a peak in suicide rates during springtime and suggest differences in the seasonal variation of suicides. However, the seasonal distribution of the temperature impact on suicide is less clear. This study investigated the relationship between diurnal temperature range (DTR) on suicide mortality. Daily temperature and suicide data for Helsinki were analyzed for the period of 1973–2010 inclusive. Overall, DTR reached its maximum during the spring from mid-April to mid-June, which is also the season with highest suicide mortality in the study region. Specifically, the seasonal timing and maxima for both DTR and suicides vary from year to year. Time series analysis of DTR and suicide records revealed a significant (P < 0.01) correlation between the springtime DTR maxima and suicide rates for males. No similar association could be found for females. These results provide evidence that a higher springtime DTR could be linked statistically to a higher seasonal suicide rate each spring, whereas the exact timing of the DTR peak did not associate with the seasonal suicide rate. A possible mechanism behind the springtime association between the DTR and suicides originates from brown adipose tissue (BAT) over-activity. Activation of BAT through the winter improves cold tolerance at the cost of heat tolerance. This might trigger anxiety and psychomotor agitation, affecting mood in a negative way. As a hypothesis, the compromised heat tolerance is suggested to increase the risk of death from suicide.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ajdacic-Gross V, Lauber C, Sansossio R, Bopp M, Eich D, Gostynski M, Gutzwiller F, Rössler W (2007) Seasonal associations between weather conditions and suicide—evidence against a classic hypothesis. Am J Epidemiol 165(5):561–569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avery DH, Wildschiødtz G, Rafaelsen OJ (1982) Nocturnal temperature in affective disorder. J Affect Disord 4(1):61–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Avery DH, Shah SH, Eder DN, Wildschiødtz G (1999) Nocturnal sweating and temperature in depression. Acta Psychiatr Scand 100(4):295–301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Caroff S, Koenig R, Winokur A, Amsterdam J, Puglia C (1981) Acute metabolic response to cold exposure in unipolar and bipolar II patients. Biol Psychiatry 16(10):919–929

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chishti P, Stone DH, Corcoran P, Williamson E, Petridou E (2003) Suicide mortality in the European Union. Eur J Public Health 13:108–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christodoulou C, Douzenis A, Papadopoulos FC, Papadopoulou A, Bouras G, Gournellis R, Lykouras L (2012) Suicide and seasonality. Acta Psychiatr Scand 125(2):127–146

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deisenhammer EA (2003) Weather and suicide: the present state of knowledge on the association of meteorological factors with suicidal behaviour. Acta Psychiatr Scand 108(6):402–409

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon KW, Shulman MD (1983) A statistical investigation into the relationship between meteorological parameters and suicide. Int J Biometeorol 27(2):93–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Elithorn A, Bridges PK, Lobban MC, Tredre BE (1966) Observations on some diurnal rhythms in depressive illness. Br Med J 2(5530):1620–1623

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Enerbäck S (2010) Human brown adipose tissue. Cell Metab 11:248–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2013) Death due to suicide, by sex. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/dataset?p_product_code=TPS00122 [Accessed 7 February 2013]

  • Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea and Social Insurance Institution (2011) Finnish statistics on medicines 2009. Juvens Print—Tampereen yliopistopaino Oy, Tampere

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilsanz V, Hu HH, Kajimura S (2013) Relevance of brown adipose tissue in infancy and adolescence. Pediatr Res 73(1):3–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakko H, Räsänen P, Tiihonen J (1998) Secular trends in the rates and seasonality of violent and nonviolent suicide occurrences in Finland during 1980–95. J Affect Disord 50:49–54

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hall WD, Mant A, Mitchell PB, Rendle VA, Hickie IB, McManus P (2003) Association between antidepressant prescribing and suicide in Australia, 1991–2000: trend analysis. BMJ 326:1008–1011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haukka J, Suominen K, Partonen T, Lönnqvist J (2008) Determinants and outcomes of serious attempted suicide: a nationwide study in Finland, 1996–2003. Am J Epidemiol 167(10):1155–1163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawton K, van Heeringen K (2009) Suicide. Lancet 373:1372–1381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helama S, Holopainen J, Partonen T (2013) Temperature-associated suicide mortality: contrasting roles of climatic warming and the suicide prevention program in Finland. Environ Health Prev Med. doi:10.1007/s12199-013-0329-7

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiltunen L, Ruuhela R, Ostamo A, Lönnqvist J, Suominen K, Partonen T (2012) Atmospheric pressure and suicide attempts in Helsinki, Finland. Int J Biometeorol 56(6):1045–1053

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holopainen J, Helama S, Björkenstam C, Partonen T (2013) Variation and seasonal patterns of suicide mortality in Finland and Sweden since the 1750s. Environ Health Prev Med (in press)

  • Huttunen P, Kortelainen ML (1990) Long-term alcohol consumption and brown adipose tissue in man. Eur J Appl Physiol 60:418–424

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change. http://www.ipcc-wg1.unibe.ch/publications/wg1-ar4/wg1-ar4.html [accessed 7 February 2013]

  • Kim Y, Kim H, Kim DS (2011) Association between daily environmental temperature and suicide mortality in Korea (2001–2005). Psychiatry Res 186:390–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koskinen O, Pukkila K, Hakko H, Tiihonen J, Väisänen E, Särkioja T, Räsänen P (2002) Is occupation relevant in suicide? J Affect Disord 70:197–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kupfer DJ, Frank E, Phillips ML (2012) Major depressive disorder: new clinical, neurobiological, and treatment perspectives. Lancet 379(9820):1045–1055

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lahti A, Räsänen P, Karvonen K, Särkioja T, Meyer-Rochow VB, Hakko H (2006) Autumn peak in shooting suicides of children and adolescents from Northern Finland. Neuropsychobiology 54:140–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambert GW, Reid C, Kaye DM, Jennings GL, Esler MD (2002) Effect of sunlight and season on serotonin turnover in the brain. Lancet 360:1840–1842

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lin H-C, Chen C-H, Xirasagar S, Lee H-C (2008) Seasonality and climatic associations with violent and nonviolent suicide: a population based study. Neuropsychobiology 57:32–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linkowski P, Martin F, De Maertelaer V (1992) Effect of some climatic factors on violent and non-violent suicides in Belgium. J Affect Disord 25:161–166

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maes M, De Mayer F, Thompson P, Peeters D, Cosyns P (1994) Synchronized annual rhythms in violent suicide rate, ambient temperature and the light–dark span. Acta Psychiatr Scand 90:391–396

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ootsuka Y, Blessing WW (2006) Thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue: increase by 5-HT2A receptor activation and decrease by 5-HT1A receptor activation in conscious rats. Neurosci Lett 395(2):170–174

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ootsuka Y, Blessing WW, Nalivaiko E (2008) Selective blockade of 5-HT2A receptors attenuates the increased temperature response in brown adipose tissue to restraint stress in rats. Stress 11(2):125–133

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Page LA, Hajat S, Kovats RS (2007) Relationship between daily suicide counts and temperature in England and Wales. Br J Psychiatry 191:106–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pandey GN, Dwivedi Y, Rizavi HS, Ren X, Pandey SC, Pesold C, Roberts RC, Conley RR, Tamminga CA (2002) Higher expression of serotonin 5-HT2A receptors in the postmortem brains of teenage suicide victims. Am J Psychiatry 159:419–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Partonen T, Haukka J, Viilo K, Hakko H, Pirkola S, Isometsä E, Lönnqvist J, Särkioja T, Väisänen E, Räsänen P (2004) Cyclic time patterns of death from suicide in northern Finland. J Affect Disord 78:11–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petridou E, Papadopoulos FC, Frangakis CE, Skalkidou A, Trichopoulos D (2002) A role of sunshine in the triggering of suicide. Epidemiology 13:106–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfannenberg C, Werner MK, Ripkens S, Stef I, Deckert A, Schmadl M, Reimold M, Häring HU, Claussen CD, Stefan N (2010) Impact of age on the relationships of brown adipose tissue with sex and adiposity in humans. Diabetes 59:1789–1793

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Preti A (1998) The influence of climate on suicidal behaviour in Italy. Psychiatry Res 78:9–19

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Preti A, Miotto P (1998) Seasonality in suicides: the influence of suicide method, gender and age on suicide distribution in Italy. Psychiatry Res 81:219–231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Salib E, Gray N (1997) Weather conditions and fatal self-harm in North Cheshire 1989–1993. Br J Psychiatry 171:473–477

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruuhela R, Hiltunen L, Venäläinen A, Pirinen P, Partonen T (2009) Climate impact on suicides rates in Finland from 1971 to 2003. Int J Biometeorol 53:167–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Räsänen P, Hakko H, Jokelainen J, Tiihonen J (2002) Seasonal variation in specific methods of suicide: a national register study of 20,234 Finnish people. J Affect Disord 71:51–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shayit M, Yadid G, Overstreet DH, Weller A (2003) 5-HT(1A) receptor subsensitivity in infancy and supersensitivity in adulthood in an animal model of depression. Brain Res 980(1):100–108

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Souêtre E, Salvati E, Belugou JL, Douillet P, Braccini T, Darcourt G (1987) Seasonality of suicides: environmental, sociological and biological covariations. J Affect Disord 13(3):215–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Souêtre E, Salvati E, Belugou JL, Pringuey D, Candito M, Krebs B, Ardisson JL, Darcourt G (1989) Circadian rhythms in depression and recovery: evidence for blunted amplitude as the main chronobiological abnormality. Psychiatry Res 28(3):263–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Souêtre E, Wehr TA, Douillet P, Darcourt G (1990) Influence of environmental factors on suicidal behavior. Psychiatry Res 32(3):253–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turecki G, Brière R, Dewar K, Antonetti T, Lesage AD, Phil M, Séguin M, Chawky N, Vanier C, Alda M, Joober R, Benkelfat C, Rouleau GA (1999) Prediction of level of serotonin 2A receptor binding by serotonin receptor 2A genetic variation in postmortem brain samples from subjects who did or did not commit suicide. Am J Psychiatry 156:1456–1458

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai J, Cho W (2012) Temperature change dominates the suicidal seasonality in Taiwan: A time-series analysis. J Affect Disord 136:412–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang PS, Angermeyer M, Borges G, Bruffaerts R, Tat Chiu W, de Girolamo G, Fayyad J, Gureje O, Haro JM, Huang Y, Kessler RC, Kovess V, Levinson D, Nakane Y, Oakley Brown MA, Ormel JH, Posada-Villa J, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alonso J, Lee S, Heeringa S, Pennell BE, Chatterji S, Ustün TB (2007) Delay and failure in treatment seeking after first onset of mental disorders in the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Survey Initiative. World Psychiatry 6(3):177–185

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (World Health Organization) (2013) Suicide prevention (SUPRE). http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/index.html [accessed 7 February 2013].

  • Zhang G, Tao R (2011) Enhanced responsivity of 5-HT(2A) receptors at warm ambient temperatures is responsible for the augmentation of the 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane (DOI)-induced hyperthermia. Neurosci Lett 490(1):68–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Reija Ruuhela from Finnish Meteorological Institute comments and meteorological data. We are also grateful to the two anonymous referees for comments that considerably improved this manuscript. Both authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Kone Foundation (post-doctoral grant to J.H.) and the Academy of Finland (grant 251441 to S.H.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jari Holopainen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Holopainen, J., Helama, S. & Partonen, T. Does diurnal temperature range influence seasonal suicide mortality? Assessment of daily data of the Helsinki metropolitan area from 1973 to 2010. Int J Biometeorol 58, 1039–1045 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0689-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0689-0

Keywords

Navigation