title: Airborne pollen and suicide mortality in Tokyo, 2001-2011.
abstract: Prior research has indicated that pollen might be linked to suicide mortality although the few studies that have been undertaken to date have produced conflicting findings and been limited to Western settings. This study examined the association between the level of airborne pollen and suicide mortality in Tokyo, Japan in the period from 2001 to 2011. The daily number of suicide deaths was obtained from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, with pollen data being obtained from the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health. A time-stratified case-crossover study was performed to examine the association between different levels of pollen concentration and suicide mortality. During the study period there were 5185 male and 2332 female suicides in the pollen season (February to April). For men there was no association between airborne pollen and suicide mortality. For women, compared to when there was no airborne pollen, the same-day (lag 0) pollen level of 30 to <100 grains per cm2was associated with an approximately 50% increase in the odds for suicide (e.g. 30 to <50 grains per cm2: odds ratio 1.574, 95% confidence interval 1.076-2.303, p=0.020). The estimates remained fairly stable after adjusting for air pollutants and after varying the cut-points that defined the pollen levels. Our results indicate that pollen is associated with female suicide mortality in Tokyo.
authors.affiliation: The Stockholm Center for Health and Social Change (SCOHOST), Södertörn University, Huddinge 141 89, Sweden. Electronic address: amstick66@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stickley
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Chris Fook
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Sheng Ng
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Ecology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Box 353100, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.affiliation: Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Universitat de Barcelona, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Dr Antoni Pujadas,, 42, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona 08830, Spain; Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, Monforte de Lemos 3-5 Pabellón 11, Madrid 28029, Spain.
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koyanagi
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Ecology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Chiho
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000485:Allergens / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D010126:Ozone / Q000032:analysis; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D011058:Pollen; D013405:Suicide; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D014041:Tokyo / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D000485:Allergens; D052638:Particulate Matter; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide; D010126:Ozone; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide
keywords: Air pollution; Airborne pollen; Japan; Mental health; Suicide mortality