Title: Seasonal effects on suicide rates - Wikipedia
Headings: Seasonal effects on suicide rates
Seasonal effects on suicide rates
Contents
General effects
Popular belief
Related factors
Gender
Biochemistry
Environment
Psychology
See also
References

Content: They state that "depression is accompanied by a depletion of n-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids". Their methodology involved taking periodic blood samples—every month for one year—of healthy volunteers, allowing them to analyze the "PUFA composition in serum phospholipids and [relating] those data to the annual variation in the mean weekly number of suicides". They used an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to document their results, finding that PUFA like arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid all occurred at significantly lower rates in winter than in summer months. The association between depression, suicide, and PUFA rates is indicative of there being a biological factor in seasonal effects on suicide rates. Environment
Environmental variables, such as the amount of sunlight, occurrence of natural disasters, and the inability to protect and shelter oneself, can result in suicidal behaviors. For example, parasuicide, which is the strongest known indicator for a future completed suicide attempt, is known to have a strong association with weather patterns. As noted by Barker et al. in their 1994 article on seasonal and weather factors in parasuicide, "A major finding of this study was…the greatest mean daily number of parasuicide episodes in late spring/early summer and a trough in December/January". Their approach involved developing a linear model to accurately separate any "seasonal effects and seasonally-related weather effects". Climate factors affect parasuicide differently in women and men.