Their hypothesis began to trickle into the mainstream after the 2011 paper. When the Utah Foundation, an independent research group, released a report in 2018 on the “startling” rise in suicides, it included a mention of Renshaw’s findings—that the counties with the highest rates are ones with higher elevations. The Montana Department of Public Health began to note the altitude of each suicide in their state, California Sunday reported, and found that suicides took place at an average elevation of 3,508 feet. Around half of people who died by suicide had moved to Montana from other states, making space for a theory that a shift from low to high elevations was a risk factor.
After observing the connection, Renshaw and his colleague, neuroscientist Shami Kanekar, brought their hypotheses to the lab. Kanekar put rats in altitude chambers that simulate different elevations, like sea level, 4,500 feet and 10,000 feet.
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