Study finds link between seasonal allergies and suicides

It’s not just your nose that suffers when pollen fills the air.

A new study suggests having seasonal allergies may increase your risk of suicide, with researchers finding these deaths tend to spike on certain days in particular.

And that’s no small matter: an estimated 81 million Americans — or about one in four adults and one in five children — battle seasonal allergies every year, according to the CDC . 3

To dig deeper, Wayne State University researchers analyzed more than a decade’s worth of daily pollen counts and suicide data from 34 US metro areas, spanning from 2006 to 2018.

What they found was clear: as pollen levels climb, so do the number of suicides.

Compared to days with little or no pollen, suicide deaths rose by 5.5% on moderate pollen days.

“At the highest po