Suicide Rates Increasing for Male, Female Youths in U.S.

Suicide mortality rates increased from 1999 to 2017 among both male and female youths, according to a study published online in JAMA Network Open.

Bin Yu, M.D., M.P.H., and Xinguang Chen, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Florida in Gainesville, measured time trends and sex differences in suicide mortality among U.S. youths aged 10 to 19 years using age and birth cohort-adjusted rates.

The researchers found that for male youths, the unadjusted suicide mortality rate increased from 7.4 per 100,000 in 1999 to 10.7 per 100,000 in 2017; the adjusted rate increased from 4.9 to 8.7 per 100,000 after controlling for the V-shaped cohort effect and a curved age effect that also differed by sex. From 1999 to 2017, for female youths, the unadjusted suicide mortality rate increased from 1.6 to 3.5 per 100,000, while the adjusted rate increased from 1.7 to 4.2 per 100,000.

"Compared with the unadjusted suicide mortality rates, the adjusted suicide mortality rates were lower for male youths and higher for female youths, and the sex differences were smaller," the authors write. "This study suggests that there is a need for greater efforts to control the rapidly increasing suicide mortality trend, with extra attention given to female youths."

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