The Suicide Clusters That Threaten Mountain Towns

outsideonline.com

2 pointsthunderbong3 comments

Durango CO is at 6500 feet and there has been an unexplained correlation between elevation and suicide known for some time.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3114154/

> Although there was a negative correlation between county altitude and all-cause mortality (r = −0.31, p < 0.001), there was a strong positive correlation between altitude and suicide rate (r = 0.50, p < 0.001).

The common aspect with altitude around the world is hypoxia - the lack of oxygen - and dramatically lower air pressure. I wonder if anyone has looked into this. Aside from specific cultural groups like Tibetans, most humans aren’t genetically adapted to high altitude living. It takes a fair amount of acclimatization for the average person to live at high altitudes.

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