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US suicide rate at highest level since World War ll: Study

Thursday, 20 June 2019 5:49 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 20 June 2019 6:20 PM ]

US suicide rates are at their highest since World War II, according to federal data.

The suicide rate in the United States has reached its highest level since World War II, with Native Americans suffering the most casualties, according to a new study by the US government.

In 2017, 14 out of every 100,000 Americans died by suicide, a 33 percent increase since 1999, according to annual research published by the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The rate in 2017 was the highest age-adjusted suicide rate recorded in the US since 1942, the federal health agency said in its report published on Thursday.

Those who identify as American Indian or Alaska Natives had the highest increase among all race and ethnicity groups, according to the research.

The research included federal data on deaths in the United States from 1999 to 2017.

The data showed that suicide deaths rose significantly for all racial and ethnic groups for both men and women.

Overall, American Indian or Alaska Native teens and adults 15 to 44 had the highest suicide rates for both males and females in 2017, the research found.

A CDC report published last year found that suicide rates increased 25 percent across the United States between 1999 and 2016.

Almost 45,000 Americans died by suicide in 2016, making it the 10th most common cause of death that year, the CDC said.

PressTV-US youth suicide rate hits record high since 2000: Study

Suicide rates among American youth have reached their highest point since 2000, a new research finds.

The latest study is in line with a separate study published on Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA, which found a considerable rise in suicide rates between 2000 and 2017 among 15- to 24-year-olds.

For some health experts, the rise in suicide comes as no surprise.

Health experts say the tragedy underscores a disturbing reality in the US. They say suicide is a growing public-health problem that doesn’t discriminate on the basis of demographics.

“This is not a condition that is related to success or failure,” says Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC. “No one is immune.”

The high rates of drug abuse and high rates of stress may be tied to rising suicide rates, says Oren Miron, a research associate in biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School, has two theories.

The opioid epidemic may harm entire communities’ mental health, Miron says. “The entire community is bleeding. Kids see less of a future, they see more of their friends dying,” Miron says.

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