Associations between climate variability, unemployment and suicide in Australia: a multicity study

A number of studies have examined the associations of suicide with meteorological variables (MVs) and socioeconomic status but the results are inconsistent. This study assessed whether MVs and unemployment were associated with suicide in eight Australian capital cities.

Data on suicide, population and unemployment rate (UER) between 1985 and 2005 were from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. MVs was provided by Australian Bureau of Meteorology. A generalized linear regression model with Poisson link was applied to explore the association of suicide with MVs and UER.

Temperature difference (ΔT, the difference in mean temperature between current month and previous one month) was positively associated with suicide in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart. There was also a significant and positive association between UER and suicide in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. MVs had more significant associations with violent suicide than that of non-violent suicide. There were no consistent associations between other MVs and suicide. A significant interaction between ΔT and UER on suicide was found in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, such that increased temperature amplified the magnitude of the association between UER and suicide.

ΔT and UER appeared to jointly influence the occurrence of suicide in Australian capital cities. This finding may have implications for developing effective suicide prevention strategies.