High altitude remains associated with elevated suicide rates after adjusting for socioeconomic status: a study from South Korea

There have been several studies supporting a possible relationship between high suicide rate and high altitude. However socioeconomic status may confound this association because low socioeconomic status, which is known to be related to a high suicide rate, is also associated with living at high alt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry investigation 2014, 11(4), , pp.492-494
Main Authors: Kim, Jaelim, Choi, Nari, Lee, Yu-Jin, An, Hyonggin, Kim, Namkug, Yoon, Ho-Kyoung, Lee, Heon-Jeong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brief Report
정신과학
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Summary:There have been several studies supporting a possible relationship between high suicide rate and high altitude. However socioeconomic status may confound this association because low socioeconomic status, which is known to be related to a high suicide rate, is also associated with living at high altitude. This study aims to explore whether the relationship between high altitude and high suicide rate remains after adjusting for socioeconomic status in South Korea. We collected demographic data of completed suicides, the mean altitude of the district where each suicide took place, and the mean income of each district. We analyzed the data using regression analysis before and after adjustment for mean income. We found that there is a positive correlation between altitude and suicide rate, even after adjustment for mean income. Thus, altitude appears to be an independent risk factor for suicide.
ISSN:1738-3684
1976-3026
DOI:10.4306/pi.2014.11.4.492