Increased suicide risk among younger women in winter during full moon in northern Europe. An artifact or a novel finding?

ABSTRACT: Available evidence suggests that there is no effect of moon phases on suicidal behavior. However, a Finnish study recently reported elevated suicide rates during full-moon, but only among premenopausal women and only in winter. This could not be replicated in an Austrian study and stirred a discussion about whether the Finnish finding was false-positive or if there are unaccounted moderator variables differing between Finland and Austria. The goal of the present study was to provide another replication with data from Sweden, which is geographically more comparable to Finland than Austria. We also investigated the discussed moderator variables latitude and nightly artificial brightness. There were 48,537 suicides available for analysis. The fraction of suicides during the full-moon quarter

SUBMITTER: Ploderl M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9908532 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature