[The August 2003 heat wave in France: effects on psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavior]

The psychological consequences of a disaster are usually analyzed in terms of their immediate impact, but since September 11, 2001, several studies have examined its effects on suicidal behavior. The aim of our survey was to analyze the associations between psychiatric disorders in a population and the heat wave that hit France in August 2003, during which 14,000 more people died than in comparable periods.

We studied a population of patients seeking emergency psychiatric care at a general hospital in Paris. We compared the number of patients and their reasons for consultation between June and October in 2002 and in 2003. We focused on suicidal behavior, depressive disorders, anxiety, and stress disorder, analyzing 1632 cases for these two periods.

Suicidal behavior was significantly less prevalent during the heat wave than in 2002: only 12.3% of the patients were diagnosed with suicidal behavior in 2003 compared with 25% in 2002. At the same time, the percentage of patients admitted to the psychiatric department was substantially higher in 2003 than in 2002: 32.1% in 2003 compared with 15.4% in 2002.

These results show that the social cohesion induced by disasters can produce social support that can be important in suicidal behavior. Reinforcing it may be crucial to reinforce for suicide prevention.