Elevation linked to suicide rates in America, study reveals

By Staff Writer

According to a national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 15 percent of U.S. high school students reported that they seriously considered suicide within the last year.

A variety of factors may lead a troubled teen to consider self-harm, such as bullying, domestic problems and school-related stress. However, a new study reveals that living at higher altitudes may be a risk factor for suicide.

The report, which appears in the journal High Altitude Medicine and Biology, examines the cause-of-death data from all 2,584 U.S. counties between 1979 and 1998. Researchers found that people who lived at higher elevations had a statistically higher suicide rate than those at lower altitudes. These differences were present even when researchers included controlled factors such as age, sex, race and income.

However, the study's authors determined that elevation heights do not correlate with death. In fact, the overall mortality rate at high elevations was significantly lower than that of low elevations.

Adolescents who suffer from emotional or mental disorders may benefit from boarding schools, which can provide the necessary help for troubled teens.