Natural and man-made influences on suicides in northwestern Russia

Our main aim was to identify the impacts of natural (solar activity, geomagnetic disturbances) and man-made factors on suicides in northwestern Russia. Data on a total of 908 suicides in the town of Kirovsk (Murmansk oblast) were analyzed for the period from 1948 to 2010. The rates of suicides were analyzed with respect to seasons of the year. We have identified three maxima in the seasonal distribution of the number of suicides [March–May (P < 0.001), July (P = 0.006), October (P < 0.001)], which coincide with maxima in the distribution of the most intense (Ap > 150 nT) magnetic storms. Multi-taper method-spectrum analysis revealed periodicities (~9–10 and ~25 years) which may be related to the main cycles of solar activity. The periods of ~3.1–3.5 and ~2–2.3 years are probably the third and the fifth harmonics of 11-year solar cycle, respectively. These periods are correlating with similar periodic variations in geomagnetic aa-indexes and meteorological parameters. It was determined the statistically significant (r = 0.8; P = 0.005) relationship between suicide and Cu emissions from Cu–Ni smelters of Russian North for the period 1997–2009.