RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUICIDE AND MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION WITH REGARD TOCHANGING PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTAL-CONDITIONS

In recent years, the possible association of changes in mortality from cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction (MI) and deaths rela ted to violence and the suicide rate has been repeatedly discussed. Th is study examined the relationship between cosmic physical changes (so lar, geomagnetic and other space activity parameters) and changes in t he total number of in-hospital and MI-related deaths and deaths from s uicide to determine if a relationship exists between the distribution of total and MI-related deaths with suicide over time; some difference s in the serotonergic mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of MI an d suicide were also taken into account. All suicides (n=2359) register ed in the State of Israel from 1981 to 1989 (108 months) were analysed and compared with the total number of deaths (n=15601) and deaths fro m MI (n=1573) in a large university hospital over 180 months (1974-198 9). The following were the main features of the Results. (1) Monthly s uicide rate was correlated with space proton flux (r=0.42, P=0.0001) a nd with geomagnetic activity (r=-0.22, P=0.03). (2) Total hospital and MI-related deaths were correlated with solar activity parameters (r=0 .35, P<0.001) and radiowave propagation (r=0.52-0.44, P<0.001), an wit h proton flux (r=-0.3 to -0.26, P<0.01). (3) Monthly suicide distribut ion over 108 months was correlated with MI ((r=-0.33, P=0.0005) and to tal hospital mortality (r=-0.22, P=0.024). (4) Gender differences were prominent. We conclude that the monthly distributions of suicides and deaths from MI are adversely related to many environmental physical p arameters and negatively correlated with each other.