title: Climate change but not unemployment explains the changing suicidality in Thessaloniki Greece (2000-2012).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently there was a debate concerning the etiology behind attempts and completed suicides. The aim of the current study was to search for possible correlations between the rates of attempted and completed suicide and climate variables and regional unemployment per year in the county of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, northern Greece, for the years 2000-12.
  
  
  METHODS
  The regional rates of suicide and attempted suicide as well as regional unemployment were available from previous publications of the authors. The climate variables were calculated from the daily E-OBS gridded dataset which is based on observational data
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only the male suicide rates correlate significantly with high mean annual temperature but not with unemployment. The multiple linear regression analysis results suggest that temperature is the only variable that determines male suicides and explains 51% of their variance. Unemployment fails to contribute significantly to the model. There seems to be a seasonal distribution for attempts with mean rates being higher for the period from May to October and the rates clearly correlate with temperature. The highest mean rates were observed during May and August and the lowest during December and February. Multiple linear regression analysis suggests that temperature also determines the female attempts rate although the explained variable is significant but very low (3-5%)
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Climate variables and specifically high temperature correlate both with suicide and attempted suicide rates but with a different way between males and females. The climate effect was stronger than the effect of unemployment.
authors.affiliation: 3rd Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: kfount@med.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Konstantinos N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Fountoulakis
authors.affiliation: 1st Propedeutic Dept of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: chrisavop@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Savopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Meteorology and Climatology, School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: zanis@geo.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Prodromos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zannis
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Department, Agios Pavlos Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: marthaapost@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Apostolopoulou
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Department, Agios Pavlos Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: iliasfount@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ilias
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fountoukidis
authors.affiliation: 1st Propedeutic Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA University Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: kakaletsisnikos@yahoo.gr.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kakaletsis
authors.affiliation: 1st Propedeutic Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA University Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: eliotkan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ilias
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kanellos
authors.affiliation: 3rd Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: dimosdimellis@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Dimos
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dimellis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece. Electronic address: thomashyphantis@outlook.com.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hyphantis
authors.affiliation: Department of Meteorology and Climatology, School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: tsike@geo.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsikerdekis
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: maurizio.pompili@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pompili
authors.affiliation: 1st Propedeutic Dept of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: axatzito@med.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Apostolos I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Hatzitolios
mesh_terms: D002980:Climate; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013696:Temperature; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Climate; Greece; Suicide; Suicide attempts