suicide rate

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Our Suicide Count Keeps Getting Worse

According to provisional CDC numbers

(Newser) - About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the US, the highest number ever recorded, according to new government data posted Thursday. The CDC, which posted the numbers , has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in...

Another Risk After Cancer Diagnosis: Suicide
Another Risk After Cancer
Diagnosis: Suicide
new studies
Apr 4, 2022 1:09 PM CDT

Another Risk After Cancer Diagnosis: Suicide

Two new studies look at the mental toll on patients

(Newser) - Researchers have long known that cancer patients face higher risk of depression and other psychiatric disorders, as well as suicide. That may be unsurprising, given the terminal nature of some cancer diagnoses. However, two sweeping new studies go far deeper into the data than previous efforts, identifying patterns among patients...

Suicide Rate Climbs 139% for Native American Women

For men, it's a 71% rise in a decade

(Newser) - Suicide rates for Native Americans have been rising faster than any other group, a new CDC analysis says: 139% for women and 71% for men since 1999. Experts say poverty, substance abuse, unemployment, and lack of access to mental health care are all contributing factors, USA Today reports. For the...

After Debut of Netflix Drama, Teen Suicides Hit 19-Year High

Researchers suspect there was a 13 Reasons Why link

(Newser) - There was a disturbing jump in teen and tween suicides in the month after Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why made its debut, researchers say. The researchers analyzed federal data on suicides among people 10 to 64 from Jan. 2013 through Dec. 2017 and found that the month with the most...

Suicide Rate Jumps for Americans Ages 10 Through 74

Rates up significantly for middle-aged adults, particularly women

(Newser) - As Canada grapples with a suicide crisis , it seems America may have one on its hands, too. Researchers at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics on Friday released a report that puts the US suicide rate at 13 per 100,000 people—a 30-year high, per the New ...

Every 40 Seconds, Someone Commits Suicide: WHO

'Major public health problem' is No. 2 cause of death among people 15-29

(Newser) - With the suicide of Robin Williams still painfully fresh, the World Health Organization released a startling statistic today: Someone takes his or her own life every 40 seconds—which equates to about 800,000 deaths a year, reports the BBC . Other findings in the WHO study : Suicide is the second-leading...

Great Recession's Toll: 10K Suicides

But greater support reduced deaths, researchers say

(Newser) - The economic despair of the Great Recession led to at least 10,000 extra suicides between 2007 and 2010, according to researchers who say that is a conservative estimate—and many of the deaths could have been prevented. The study of 24 EU countries, the US, and Canada found that...

More Suicides Over Holidays? Just a Myth

But people believe it, study says

(Newser) - Perhaps It's a Wonderful Life is to blame. We tend to think of the holiday months as having an elevated suicide rate, and the media pushes that perception—but in fact, it's entirely wrong, researchers say. A University of Pennsylvania study of CDC data on suicide rates between...

Recession Quadrupled Suicide Rate
 Recession 
 Quadrupled 
 Suicide Rate 
study says
Nov 5, 2012 6:43 AM CST

Recession Quadrupled Suicide Rate

Study finds additional 1.5K deaths per year

(Newser) - The suicide rate rose four times more quickly between 2008 and 2010 than it did in the preceding eight years, a study finds, a jump of an extra 1,500 deaths per year. Between 1999 and 2007, the rate annually climbed by about 0.12 deaths per 100,000 people;...

'Economic Suicides' Soaring in Europe

Tragic suicide notes grip public

(Newser) - Tough times are taking a heavy toll on the mental health of Europeans. The last few years have seen thousands of what media outlets have labeled "economic suicides" among unemployed or fearful workers in Greece, Italy, Ireland, and elsewhere, finds the Washington Post . Researchers have found that other signs...

Suicides Cost Japan $32B
 Suicides Cost Japan $32B 
Sep 8, 2010 4:16 AM CDT

Suicides Cost Japan $32B

Depression, suicides exact huge toll on Japanese economy

(Newser) - Suicides and depression cost Japan the equivalent of $32 billion last year, according to government officials there. The staggeringly high figure was arrived at by calculating the cost of treatment and the lost earnings of the 32,000 people who killed themselves in Japan last year, the BBC reports. The...

S. Koreans Play Dead at 'Coffin Academy'
 S. Koreans 
 Play Dead at 
 'Coffin Academy' 
FOR ONLY $25
Jan 4, 2010 10:43 AM CST

S. Koreans Play Dead at 'Coffin Academy'

Self-help tactic controversial in country with high suicide rate

(Newser) - At the Coffin Academy, South Koreans pay $25 each to write their own tombstone epitaphs, bid loved ones goodbye, then climb into caskets in a candlelit chapel and play dead for 10 minutes. The entrepreneurs who guide this death simulation say it motivates people to improve their lives; critics counter...

Suicide Rate Rising
 Suicide Rate Rising 
Nov 23, 2009 4:49 AM CST

Suicide Rate Rising

Data shows uptick in suicides during recession

(Newser) - The suicides this year of a Freddie Mac boss overwhelmed by investigations into his company and a banker whose firm lost $1.5 billion in the Madoff scandal offer two high-profile examples of a trend confirmed by recent data: the US suicide rate is rising in the wake of the...

Lithium in Water Cuts Suicide Rate

Japanese study links trace amounts in water supply to less suicides

(Newser) - People in areas where the tap water contains lithium are less likely to kill themselves, according to a new Japanese study. The researchers found that the element—used in high doses to treat mood disorders—appeared to "significantly" reduce the suicide rate even when only tiny amounts of it...

Will the Recession Drive Up Suicides?

We're better prepared now, but rates are still tied to cultural trends

(Newser) - America is reeling from the financial crisis, and the psychological strain has analysts carefully watching national suicide rates, Time reports. Though three high-profile European businessmen took their own lives recently, suicide rates have held steady at 11 per 100,000 people; during the Great Depression, they spiked at 17 per...

Under the Tree: Medical Myths
 Under the Tree: Medical Myths 
Dec 21, 2008 6:21 PM CST

Under the Tree: Medical Myths

Recent study debunks seasonal misconceptions

(Newser) - Bending and breaking under holiday stress? Relax! The British Medical Journal has bah-humbugged six holiday health myths, the New York Times reports:
  • Night eating makes you fat: Calories are calories. When you eat doesn't matter; it's what you eat.
  • Poinsettias are perilous: Reported cases of human poinsettia consumption: 22,
...

Suicide Rate Soars for Middle-Aged
Suicide Rate Soars for Middle-Aged
Oct 21, 2008 5:02 AM CDT

Suicide Rate Soars for Middle-Aged

Scientists baffled by 16% spike for Boomers

(Newser) - A sharp rise in the number of middle-aged white people taking their own lives has driven up the US suicide rate by nearly 5% since 1999, the Los Angeles Times reports. Experts are baffled by the nearly 16% hike in this group, but speculate that prescription drug abuse, a drop...

Soldier Suicides Set Record
 Soldier Suicides Set Record 
May 30, 2008 3:51 AM CDT

Soldier Suicides Set Record

115 Army suicides last year

(Newser) - The Army recorded it highest ever number of suicides last year, with 115 soldiers killing themselves, Reuters reports. The rate is staying high this year, with 38 soldier suicides so far. The military said the statistics showed no direct link between the increase in suicides and repeated deployments to combat...

Suicide Kills More LA Cops Than Criminals

Grim nature of job biggest hazard for officers

(Newser) - Cops in Los Angeles are more likely to die by their own hand than from a criminal's bullet, the Los Angeles Times reports. Psychologists trying to improve the LAPD's suicide prevention efforts found that 19 police officers in the city killed themselves between 1998 and 2007, while just seven died...

Suicides Spike Among Middle-Aged
Suicides
Spike Among Middle-Aged
Feb 19, 2008 10:10 AM CST

Suicides Spike Among Middle-Aged

Sudden rise in demographic baffles experts

(Newser) - Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have spiked dramatically in recent years, in contrast to flat or declining rates in younger and older demographics, mystifying experts, reports the New York Times. For people 45 to 54, the rate jumped 20% between 1999 and 2004;  for women, the increase was 31%....

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