Suicides jump 4% to become one of top 10 leading causes of death in US, CDC report shows

According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate in the US will rise in 2021 after a two-year dip.

The four percent increase from 2020 to 2021 suggests that the economic and widespread psychological fallout from the pandemic has taken a huge toll on Americans’ mental health, health experts said.

Nearly 48,200 people took their own lives in 2021, up from about 46,000 in 2020 and 47,511 deaths in 2019, before the pandemic.

Suicide is now the 11th leading cause of death in the US, compared to 2020 when it was the 12th leading cause of death. It is also the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 34.

The suicide rate is up four percent between 2020 and 2021, to more than 14 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to about 11 percent in 2001.

While those rates were lowest for young women ages 10 to 14, that population has seen the largest percentage increase over the past 20 years.

The CDC report gave no reason for the significant increase, but health officials know that pandemic-era lockdowns and feelings of isolation, as well as the financial loss inflicted on millions of Americans, have increased rates of depression, anxiety, and fear. suicide.

The CDC said in Thursday’s report: “Previously reported data for 2019 and 2020 showed that for several subgroups, including women ages 25-74 and men ages 45-64 and 65-74, suicide rates were down relative to recent peaks in 2018. Data in 2021 show declines may have slowed or reversed for some groups.”

Of all the demographics examined in the new report, American Indian or Alaskan Native people had the highest suicide rates from 2020 to 2021.

That group, as well as black and white men and women, all saw increases in suicide deaths that year.

The most notable increase in male suicides between 2020 and 2021 was seen in the 15 to 24 age group, from just over 22 per 100,000 people to nearly 24.

The suicide rate was three to four times higher among men than among women by 2021, as it had been for many years before.

Female suicides have been on an upward trend since 2001, albeit with varying rates, in all age groups, with the exception of women aged 75 and over.

For women aged 75 and older, the rate increased significantly between 2020 and 2021, from 3.9 to 4.4 per 100,000. The CDC authors called this the only significant increase among women of all ages.

For women aged 75 and over, rates experienced periods of decline and stability throughout the period, except for a significant increase between 2020 and 2021. While rates were lowest for those aged 10-14, this group experienced the largest percentage increase in this period

From 2001 through 2021, male suicide rates were consistently highest among those over 75 and lowest among 10-14 year olds

This may be due to feelings of isolation, loneliness, and grief over lost spouses or other loved ones during the pandemic.

Bereavement is “experienced disproportionately by older adults” and often causes physical or emotional distress, including “severe depression and complicated grief,” according to a 2013 report in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health.

While young women ages 10 to 14 had the lowest suicide rates of all age groups, they saw the largest percentage increase in two decades, starting at 0.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2001 and rising to 2.3 per that number in 2021.

Public health experts have become increasingly concerned in recent years about the deteriorating mental health of young people, especially adolescent girls.

Last June, the CDC reported that the average number of weekly visits teen girls made to the emergency department due to suicide attempts in just one month was nearly 51 percent higher in 2021 compared to the same period in 2019.

The agency said it first saw an uptick in May 2020, about a month after the federal government declared a public health emergency related to Covid-19.

In that 2021 report, CDC officials said, “The findings of this study suggest more severe stress among young women than identified in previous reports during the pandemic, reinforcing the need for greater attention and prevention for this population.”

In general, girls have fared worse than boys when it comes to mental health in recent years. Another report from the CDC in February of this year found that 57 percent of teenage girls felt “persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness” — the highest rate in a decade. This percentage was even higher among LGBTQ+ youth, at around 70 percent.