Project Background

Extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, and floods may become more amplified or frequent in the context of climate change. Meteorological factors that underlie extreme weather events such as precipitation and ambient temperature have been linked with increasing risks of mortality including suicide. Like meteorological variables, ambient air pollution concentrations are correlated with increasing suicide risk and likely to be impacted by climate change. A Utah-based study conducted by Huntsman Mental Health Researchers, the first U.S.-based study of its kind, identified a heightened risk of suicide death associated with short-term exposure (up to four days preceding a suicide) to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). These findings have now been replicated in culturally, geographically, and meteorologically diverse regions of the world such as Belgium, Japan, China, and England. Utah-focused research has also recently uncovered increasing risks of suicide associated with increasing ambient temperature and solar radiation. While prior research has examined changes in average daily exposures to meteorological and air pollution exposures over time with suicide, exposure to peak or extreme weather and air pollution (e.g. wildfire) events with suicide risk remain poorly understood. The proposed study aims to identify extreme weather and air pollution events in Utah from 2000-2022 and examine the relationship between extreme weather and air pollution events with the risk of suicide from 2000-2022.

 

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Federal Program: This project is funded by the National Institutes of Health and has specific eligibility requirements. Applicants must: 1) be a matriculated, degree-seeking U undergraduate students; 2) be eligible to work in the US; and 3) be from an underrepresented group as defined by the National Institutes of Health. This includes people who are Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islanders.

Student Role

The student can expect to 1) conduct a literature review on the topic of extreme weather and air pollution events and suicide, 2) assist with data preparation and management including accessing and working with spatially-explicit data sets, 3) assist with study design, 4) conduct data visualization (potentially in R, SAS and/or ArcGIS), and conduct or assist with conducting descriptive analyses of the timing of extreme weather and air pollution events, and 5) conduct or assist with conducting a more complex case-crossover or time-series study to investigating the link between extreme weather and air pollution events with suicide. The student will also have the opportunity to participate in weekly lab meetings with other faculty, staff, and students.

Student Learning Outcomes and Benefits

At the conclusion of the summer program, the student will have completed a thorough literature review on the topic of extreme weather and air pollution events and suicide, which will serve as the foundation of an introduction for a future journal article. The student will have gained a comprehensive understanding of what is known about extreme weather and air pollution events and suicide as well as current knowledge gaps. Further, the student will have gained experience with data visualization, some statistical analysis approaches, and with the interpretation of results. Most importantly, participation on this project will result in improvement in foundational skills for career development including writing and analytical skills.

 

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