Each 10% increase in airborne particulate matter in rural counties causes monthly suicide rates to rise by 1.5% on average, according to David Molitor, a professor of finance at the Gies College of Business at Illinois and co-author of the study.
"Air pollution has long been recognized as bad for physical health, but there's now evidence that links it to"Given that wildfires are expected to become more frequent and severe in the coming decades because of warmer and drier climate conditions and ongoing human development in previously wild areas, it's imperative that we fully understand the impact of wildfire smoke pollution.
Using data on all deaths by suicide, satellite-based measures of wildfire smoke and ambient fine particulate matter concentrations in the U.S. from 2007-2019, the researchers compared year-over-year fluctuations in county-level monthly smoke exposure to changes in suicide rates, and then analyzed the effects across local areas and demographic groups.
They found that worse air quality leads to higher rates of suicide—although the data show that effect emerged only among certain demographic groups in