Abstract
Suicide emerges as a threat to national health of USA with Whites being at extra risk. More information is needed regarding the increased suicide among Whites to improve national suicide prevention strategies. This study aims to characterise the age pattern of suicide among Whites by suicide methods adjusting for time period and birth cohort. Suicide mortality data by age of 15-84 years during 1999-2017 were derived from the Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiological Research, prepared by US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Mortality data for three common suicide methods, firearms, suffocation and poisoning were analysed using the age-period-cohort (APC) model. Period-cohort adjusted mortality rates by age were estimated based on results from APC modelling. Period-cohort adjusted rates indicated that the overall age pattern for males contained five phases, including three increasing phases (ages 15-20, 30-50 and 65+), connected by two declining phases (ages 20-30 and 50-65); and the age pattern for females was a parabolic with an increasing phase from 15 years of age up to 50, followed by a declining phase after age 50. Furthermore, the age pattern for different suicide methods differed substantially for males, but did not for females. Among males, suicide by firearms contained two rapid increasing phases, one during adolescence and another in older ages; suicide by suffocation showed a high plateau across an age span from 20 to 55 years; and suicide by poisoning followed a parabolic, increasing by age up to 45 before it declined. Age patterns revealed by the unadjusted crude rates were biased because of significant linear period effect and W-shaped cohort effect. This study is the first to quantify the age patterns of suicide by different methods for US Whites using period-cohort adjusted rates. Study findings provide valid evidence supporting precision interventions to reduce the extra suicide mortality among Whites by targeting specific age ranges with different suicide methods.
Highlights
National strategies to curb the growing trend of suicide among US population require unbiased measure of the risk and pattern of suicide by different methods for planning and decision-making
De-identified data for Whites were derived from the Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), a data source sponsored by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for data sharing (CDC, 2020)
This study examined the age pattern of suicide mortality risk for US Whites aged 15–84 years by sex, and by suicide methods of firearms, suffocation and poisoning
Summary
National strategies to curb the growing trend of suicide among US population require unbiased measure of the risk and pattern of suicide by different methods for planning and decision-making. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the USA with a total of 47 173 persons killed themselves in 2017 alone (AFSP, 2017). Firearms are the most commonly used method for suicide in the USA, accounting for 50.57% of the total suicide deaths; followed by suffocation (including hangings), and poisoning (AFSP, 2017). In addition to the overall differences, valid data on age patterns of different suicide methods are crucial. Such data will provide information much needed for evidence-based planning and preparation of targeted prevention interventions and relevant clinical services for emergency treatment to reduce suicide (Doshi et al, 2005; Snowdon et al, 2017; CDC, 2019). A primary goal of the current study is to fill this gap
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
