HealthDay News — According to a data brief published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), suicide rates in the United States rose 24% between 1999 and 2014 — with young girls and middle-aged men accounting for the largest increases.
By 2014, the total suicide rate reached 13 per 100,000 people, said researchers from the NCHS. The greatest annual increases occurred after 2006.
Suicide rates climbed by 1% a year from 1999 through 2006, and by 2% annually since then.
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Men aged 45 to 64 saw a 43% increase in suicide rates over 15 years. Girls aged 10 to 14 years accounted for 150 suicides in 2014, which represented an increase of 200% during the study period.
Three times as many men took their lives in 2014 as women (20.7 per 100,000 versus 5.8 per 100,000, respectively). Overall, suicide rates remained highest among men 75 and older.
Although suicides have increased among whites, suicides among American Indians have risen even more, said lead author Sally Curtin, a statistician with the NCHS. And notably, suicide rates for black males dropped 8% over the 15-year period, she told HealthDay.
Reference
Curtin SC, Warner M, Hedegaard H. Increase in suicide in the United States, 1999–2014. NCHS data brief, no 241. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2016.
