Whenever a case of suicide is reported, without giving a second thought we may instantly relate a mental illness or stress to be the cause of it. But difficulty in breathing also seems to be a reason of suicide. Two large Asian population analyses supposedly accuse the effects of air pollution and asthma to influence an individual into committing suicide.
In order to conduct the research, the scientists gathered air pollution measurements from seven cities in South Korea. Relationship between elevation in particulate matter and the 4,341 suicides committed in 2004 were thoroughly observed. Changsoo Kim, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues mentioned a 9 percent increase in suicide due to short-term elevation in airborne particles and a 19 percent increment in suicide among people with cardiovascular disease. It was noted that the accumulated data was provided from a national database.
In the following research national suicide records were scrutinized under the guidance of Chian-Jue Kuo, M.D., M.S., and colleagues. The aim was to associate suicides committed over 12 years in Taiwan with cases of asthma in approximately 163,000 high school students. The investigators conclude that teenagers with asthma are twice as likely to commit suicide as compared to youngsters without asthma. Adolescents with more severe asthma reported a greater risk of suicide.
It was enlightened that both the investigations display elevation in suicide rates to asthma and air pollution. The researchers affirmed that suicides committed due to psychiatric illness were not included in the investigations.
The research was published on July 15 in the online edition of The American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP), the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association.