Is unemployment less important than expected for suicide attempted in developing regions? Occupational profile of suicide attempts in Jujuy, north westernmost Argentina

An investigation into the association between suicide mortality rate and lithium levels in potable water: a review study

This study aimed to investigate the association between lithium levels in potable water and suicide mortality rates in the total inhabitants. We systematically searched Embase, PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, PubMed Central (PMC), Google Scholar databases, as well as medRxiv using the following keywords: drinking water, lithium, standardized mortality ratio (SMR), tap water, suicide, and ground water. Pearson regression analysis was used to test an association between variables with 95% confidence interval (CI). A value of P < 0.05 was considered significant. A total of 16 eligible articles were identified. Lithium concentrations in drinking water range from 0.4 to 32.9 μg/l. Average rates of suicide mortality (per 100 000 capita) range between 0.790 (±0.198) and 123 (±50). About 16 original studies confirmed the inverse relationship between lithium concentrations in potable water and suicide mortality rates (R = -0.576; R2 = 0.3323; 95% CI, -0.820 to -0.325; β = -0.3.2; P = 0.019). High lithium concentrations in potable water were associated with decreased suicide rates. We concluded that lithium concentration in potable water was inversely associated with suicide mortality rates among a total population. However, further research is required to clarify the relationship between lithium concentrations in drinking water and suicide rate.

Unemployment and mental health in a community population from a border city in Mexico

BACKGROUND

The constant changes in the global economy generate instability in the markets, favoring the closing of companies, dismissals of personnel, job losses. Unemployment has been associated with adverse psychological effects, serving as a predictor of poor mental health.

OBJECTIVE

The main goal was to analyze the relation between work status and mental health.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, quantitative study was carried out with a sample of community population, inhabitants of the urban area of a Mexican city. The sample consisted of 1351 participants, being 577 men (43%) and 774 women (57%) with an average age of 41.46 (SD = 17.00). The participants were selected by a quota sampling, in 13 representative points of Matamoros' city urban area. Home surveys were applied; the Spanish version of the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) was used for mental health assessment.

RESULTS

The model explaining the relation between work status and mental health (GFI) was significant (p < 0.01). Unemployment was related to higher scores in all sub-scales of psychopathologies evaluated by the SCL-90, in comparison with the rest of work status categories.

CONCLUSIONS

The unemployed, followed by housewives, presented indicators of poorer mental health, while the retired and those in strikes or lockouts showed the best mental health indexes.

Lithium in drinking water, altitude, and suicide rates in rural areas of Argentinean Andes

The Lithium Triangle in the Andean plateau involves high altitude (>3,000 m asl) hydrological systems having high lithium graded waters. This research was carried-out in rural areas of north westernmost Argentinean Andes and was aimed: 1) to determine concentrations of lithium in drinking waters; 2) to calculate suicide mortality rates based on available official data (2003-2013); 3) to analyze bivariate differences between lithium concentrations in drinking water, mean rates of suicide mortality, altitude of sampling sites, and water sources; 4) to analyze bivariate correlations between lithium concentrations in drinking water, mean rates of suicide mortality, and altitude; 5) to test predictive models for mean rates of suicide mortality, when considering the predictors lithium concentrations in drinking water, altitude, and water sources. Lithium determinations in drinking waters were performed by Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer. Nonparametric tests were applied to analyze differences and correlations. Generalized linear models (GLM) were used to fitting models for mean rates of suicide. Drinking waters contained up to 2.98 mg L^-1 of lithium. Mean rates of suicide mortality (per 100,000 inhabitants) were high, ranging from 19.12 (± 19.83) to 30.22 (± 16.70). Lithium but not altitude was positively correlated with suicide mortality when analyzing bivariate correlations (Li: rho = 0.76, p-value < 0.001). However, when GLM were calculated, a significant interaction effect was found between lithium and altitude (p-value < 0.001). This interaction effect would act in some way restraining the suicide mortality rates.

Altitude and latitude variations in trait-impulsivity, depression, anxiety, suicidal risk, and negative alcohol-related consequences in Argentinean adolescents

The aims of this research were threefold: 1) to analyze mental health state both general (GMHS, i.e., self-perceived health and psychological distress) and specific (SMHS; i.e., depression, trait-anxiety, negative alcohol-related consequences, and suicidal risk), and impulsivity-related traits (i.e., negative urgency, positive urgency, [lack of] perseverance, [lack of] premeditation, and sensation seeking) in a sample of Argentinean adolescent college students, in function of sex (women, men) and three different altitude-latitude regions (high-north, middle-center, low-south), for identifying common and specific features; 2) to analyze relationships between impulsivity-related traits and indicators of GMHS and SMHS, in the entire sample and in each altitude-latitude region, for understanding the importance of impulsivity-related traits in these forms of mental disorders; and 3) to analyze bivariate relationships between depression, trait-anxiety, negative alcohol-related consequences, and suicidal risk, in the entire sample and considering the three altitude-latitude regions, for testing two-disorder comorbidities. Scores on impulsivity-related traits differed by sex and by altitude-latitude region. GMHS and SMHS differed by sex but not by altitude-latitude region. Several relationships were found between impulsivity-related traits, GMHS, and SMHS as well as between indicators of SMHS. Some of these relationships were dependent on altitude-latitude regions, and implications of these findings were discussed.