Suicide rate in U.S. on the rise, with spike for girls age 10-14

BY LAURA SANTHANAM  April 22, 2016 at 12:01 AM EDT

Nationwide, the suicide rate is on the rise, and the Great Recession may be partially to blame.

After more than a decade of decline, the suicide rate in the United States climbed 24 percent to 13 out of 100,000 people between 1999 and 2014 with men far outpacing women, according to new data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Starting in 2006, that rate climbed even faster.

“It’s a broad-based increase in suicide,” said Sally Curtin, a statistician with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and one of the report’s main authors.

All age groups younger than 75 saw a rise in suicide since 1999, the report says.

While the numbers remain small, the suicide rate among girls age 10-14 tripled from 1999 to 2014 and experienced the largest percent increase. That finding surprised Curtin, who explained that deaths are just one element to consider when studying suicide.

“For that group, the deaths are just the tip of the iceberg,” Curtin said. “There are so many more attempts and hospitalizations.”

According to CDC’s data, suicide attempts among 10- to 14-year-olds rose 135 percent between 2001 and 2014, said Deb Stone, a behavioral scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When examining suicide rate by race, researchers found the steepest rise among American Indian and Alaskan Natives, according to a newly released supplemental brief.

Risk factors included mental health problems, substance abuse, availability of lethal means, and exposure to another’s suicide, or contagion effect, Stone said.

Despite rising rates, Stone said, “We know that suicide is a preventable public health problem.”

She stressed that schools, workplaces and healthcare settings all can play a role in suicide prevention. These strategies might include: Educating people about suicide risk factors, decreasing stigma and reducing the availability of lethal means to people who are at-risk.​

She also recommended that if someone needs help, they should call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 where around-the-clock counselors are available.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/178414/

______________________________

98 children aged 10-14 have killed themselves in last decade

ONS includes deaths of children under 15 for first time in its suicide figures, which also show rise in female suicides in England

Nearly 100 children aged 10 to 14 killed themselves in the UK in the past decade, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Charities said the numbers were a “national scandal”. The records show 98 children under 15 killed themselves in the UK from 2005 to 2014, 59 boys and 39 girls.

For the first time the ONS included in its research on UK suicides the deaths from intentional self-harm of 10- to 14-year-old children as well as those of people aged 15 and over. Children under 10 are not recognised in suicide figures and therefore not included.

Ged Flynn, the chief executive of the charity Papyrus, which is dedicated to the prevention of suicide among young people, told the Press Association: “We have ‘hidden’ the fact that children and young people die this way because it is so flipping painful for us.

“It is painful and toxic to think about it, so we hide it and hope it goes away. Today we can see it is not going away. It is a national scandal and we have to talk about it.”

He said experts had known for some time that depression started for some at an early age, and there were a “plethora of reasons” why children took their own lives. He said children felt “trapped or ashamed” by whatever was driving their suicidal thoughts.

The NSPCC confirmed there had been a rise in children seeking its help. “Our ChildLine service has seen a huge increase in calls from desperately unhappy children,” a spokesperson said. “Last year more than half of the young people we referred to other agencies were suicidal.”

The figures also show that suicide rates among women in England rose in 2014 to their highest in a decade despite a drop in the overall number of UK suicides.

There were 4,882 suicides among people aged 10 and over in England in 2014, 155 more than in 2013 – a 3% increase. Of these, more than three-quarters (76%) were male (3,701 male and 1,181 female).

The increase was driven by the rise in the number of female suicides, with 14% more in England in 2014 than in 2013. It is the highest rate for female suicides since 2005. Across the UK, 113 more women died by suicide in 2014 than in the previous year.

In contrast, male suicide rates have remained stable. In recent years there has been an increase in suicide prevention strategies and support targeted at men in an effort to counteract the high rates of male suicide. According to the ONS, the increase in the rate in England in 2014 contrasts with the rest of the UK, with the number of suicides falling in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“It’s of great concern to see an indication of an increase in female suicide,” said Ruth Sutherland, the chief executive of Samaritans. “Samaritans’ goal is that fewer people die by suicide and these figures help us to be more targeted in our work and reinforce the need for all agencies, the police, prisons, schools and NHS to work together to reduce death by suicide.”

Overall, there were 6,122 suicides in the UK in 2014, 120 fewer than in 2013 – a 2% decrease. The male suicide rate was more than three times higher than the female rate, with 16.8 male deaths per 100,000 compared with 5.2 female deaths.

The highest suicide rate in the UK in 2014 was among men aged 45 to 59, at 23.9 deaths per 100,000, slightly lower than the record high seen in 2013. This age group also had the highest rate among women, at 7.3 deaths per 100,000. Since 2007, the rate in the 45 to 59 age group has been increasing. Men aged 30 to 44 had the second highest suicide rate, at 21.3 deaths per 100,000 population in 2014.

Between 1981 and 2005, Scotland had the highest suicide rate. In 2005, the rate in Northern Ireland showed a large increase and took over with the most instances of suicide. Since then, the highest rate has varied between the two, with England having the lowest rate until 2014 when it rose above that seen in Wales.

Broken down by region, the ONS figures revealed that the highest suicide rate in England was in the north-east, which in 2014 had 13.2 deaths per 100,000 population. London had the lowest at 7.8 per 100,000.

The was a sharp drop in suicides in Wales. In 2014, there were 247 suicides in people aged 10 and over (199 male, 48 female suicides) – a decrease of 146 deaths since 2013. The ONS said the drop in the suicide rate from 14.7 deaths per 100,000 population to 9.2 deaths per 100,000 population – a 37% decrease – was the lowest suicide rate observed since the beginning its time series in 1981.

The male suicide rate in Wales was significantly higher than the rate in England between 2010 and 2013. However, the sharp fall in the suicide rate in Wales in 2014, means that the Welsh suicide rate is now lower than in England.

The female suicide rate in Wales was slightly higher than in England between 2010 and 2013, but was lower than that seen in England in 2014.

“In 2014, there was a lot of activity surrounding the consultation on the new “Talk To Me 2” Welsh suicide prevention strategy which may have had a positive effect in reducing the number of suicides in Wales,” said the ONS. “However, it is too soon to tell if the sharp fall in the suicide rate in Wales in 2014 is the start of a downward trend or simply a large annual fluctuation.”

The ONS warned that analysis of when the deaths occurred suggests the decrease may not be as large as it appears: “Not all suicides that occurred in 2014 have been registered yet; however, when late registrations of deaths that occurred in 2013 and 2014 are included in the figures, the drop in the suicide rate between 2013 and 2014 is no longer significant.”

• In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/04/female-suicide-rate-in-england-highest-for-a-decade-in-2014-figures-reveal