Researchers in Utah believe they have shed light on a possible reason that a strip of states in the West have earned the morbid nickname "The Suicide Belt."

Suicide rates in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming are nearly one and a half times higher than the rest of the country
Researchers from the University of Utah think thin air might be a factor.

In a study using lab rats, they found having lower oxygen levels results in low serotonin, which is commonly known as the the brain's "happy hormone." The lead author of the study notes rat brains are very different from human brains, and that the effect was seen only in female brains and not male. but despite those difference he still believes this finding could be a sign that elevation and depression are somehow connected.

Easy to corroborate.

Is the suicide rate higher than normal in the comparably elevated regions of Peru, Chile, Nepal, Bolivia, Argentina, China, etc?

But did they evolve there /at altitude? (Re easy to corelate with existing populations)

Variables might include: 1) length of time population groups measured have lived at x altitude / number of generations
2) population migration altitude changed, (#feet) (years/generations ) (origin altitude / plus or minus destination altitude for descendants)

Adaptations among groups at altitude (lung capacity, blood cells, others) ; compare. Tales & lore - among local people for anecdotes.

Altitude, effects of oxygen and human systems is a fascinating study.

I guess "thin air" is as likely a culprit as "low sunlight," but there should be easy ways to find out.

Or, is it the hot air spewing from the Morg?

That excuse is as thin as the air.

That's cause it couldn't possibly have anything to do with a certain Mormon church. No, no, can't possibly look into that.

What's Utah's rate compared to other two, I wonder, and more importantly, what's the rate identified LDS in that number. I'm sure TSCC would point out that many might be ex-members and therefore "not LDS", but church-related stress is certainly to be factored in, so they can't duck that one...

A Likely story.

What a lame ass excuse.

Let's see. Highest suicide rate. Highest per capita use of antidepressants. Highest rate of personal bankruptcy. Highest incidence of affinity fraud. Among the highest for plastic surgery procedures. Highest personal consumption of pornography.
.....That's it! It must be the pornography. Problem solved!

Speaking of pornography, I find it intriguing that Utah also rates #1 in internet porn subscription services.

http://m.deseretnews.com/article/705288350/Utah-No-1-in-online-porn-subscriptions-report-says.html?pg=all

For what it is worth, higher suicide rates among people living at higher altitudes has been previously noted.

Most of Arizona isn't at altitude, folks!

Area wise it is; but the high population areas Sun Valley (Phx, Mesa, Goodyear, Scottsdale, etc...) and Tucson and Gila Valley isn't.

But.... Payson is @5000 ft, Winslow 5000, ft, Flagstaff 7000, Showlow 6000, Sedona 4000, The northern part of the State Mogollon rim (high Desert and the small forest towns [strawberry, Pinetop-Lakeside, Heber, Sunrise, Williams, etc...

Keep in mind that Horny Joe crafted the root cause of the rash of suicidal urges out of what else ..... thin air.

I guess they could ask the Mt. Everest Climbers who survived the Avalance/Earthquake and see if they were planning to jump off the mountain to committ suicide. That's the highest elevation on earth. Perfect place to study this theory.

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-suicidal-us-cities-2011-7?op=1

Only three cities on this list are at high altitude.

Suicide rate per 100,000 people:

Las Vegas, NV_____________________34.5
Colorado Springs, CO______________26.1
Tucson, AZ________________________25.0
Sacramento, CA___________________22.7
Albuquerque, NM_________________21.0
Mesa, AZ_________________________19.6
Miami, FL_________________________17.1
Denver, CO_______________________16.2
Jacksonville, FL___________________15.6
Wichita, KS_______________________15.2
Pittsburgh, PA____________________15.2
Portland, OR______________________15.1
Fresno, CA_______________________14.8
Phoenix, AZ______________________14.7
Tulsa, OK________________________14.5



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2015 09:52AM by anybody.

I can tell you that the air is very thick in Sacramento, but the job opportunities are thin. Rents are going up while wages remain stagnant. The weather is fair to a fault, and we're in the fourth year of a drought in the region. Most young adults are doubled up in apartments or living with their parents. On the plus side you can wear sneakers every day of the year, and a windbreaker will do for a winter coat. We have a nine month barbecue season and the largest river in California. Because the humidity is very low, hot summer days are bracketed with cool nights. That's the yin and the yang of it, I suppose.

I have a Masters Degree in Public Health from an earlier incarnation, but haven't ever practiced in the field, so I won't comment on the conclusions.

Still, I seem to remember that with this type of data you could do various statistical tests to determine whether the correlation between altitude and suicide rate is likely to be due to chance or not. Between any two cities like Las Vegas and Miami, you could do a simple t-test to see whether a single factor like altitude might be a important. For the whole group, you could do a more complicated "complete analysis of variance," which could include other factors like age, alcohol sales, drug use, education, unemployment, etc. and portion out the variance between the various factors. Another approach would be to plot suicide rate versus altitude and do a least-squares regression with correlation coefficient. All this used to be a long, dreary task with hand calculators and huge books of tables: you would plan on staying up late. It's easier in modern times. Many calculators now have built-in statistics routines. Computer packages like SAS were just coming into use 30 years ago, and no doubt they are much more powerful today.

But even then, all you've got in the end is a probability.