Increase in Suicide in the United States, 1999-2014.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Longitudinal national vital statistics surveillance by design analogy, not clinical CEBM.
What was done
Analysis of US mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System examining trends in suicide rates from 1999 through 2014 across age groups (ages 10-74), sex, and lethal methods.
What was found
From 1999 through 2014, the US age-adjusted suicide rate increased 24%, from 10.5 to 13.0 per 100,000 population, with a faster rate of increase after 2006. Rates increased for both males and females and across all age groups from 10 to 74 years. The largest percentage increases occurred in females aged 10-14 and males aged 45-64. In 2014, firearms were the most frequent method for males (55.4%), and poisoning was most frequent for females (34.1%). The proportion of suicides attributable to suffocation increased for both sexes.
Why it matters
This report establishes a substantial 15-year population-level increase in US suicide mortality across demographic groups, highlighting vulnerable age brackets and changing lethal means.
Limits
The abstract does not provide absolute case counts, confidence intervals, or contributing clinical or social risk factors. Data rely on death certificate reporting, which may be subject to misclassification.
Cited by
- supports Middle-aged women have the highest suicide rate among all female age groups.