Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/20
By: Christie Chen and Chang Ming-hsuan

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) The intensity of the “urban heat island effect (UHIE)” is statistically significant in association with suicides among the elderly in greater Taipei, according to the results of a recent study.

Published in the August issue of the Taiwan Journal of Public Health, the study found that for every 1-degree Celsius increase in the intensity of UHIE, the suicide mortality rate among the elderly population rises by 5.49 percent.

The study investigated the correlation between UHIE and the suicide mortality rate among people aged 65 and above in metropolitan Taipei from 2000 to 2008, using geographic information and statistical analysis.

It was jointly conducted by researchers from National Chiayi University, National Yang-Ming University, National Chen Kung University, National Health Research Institutes, and Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institution.     [FULL  STORY]