WEDNESDAY, Dec. 20, 2023 (HealthDay News) — From 1999 to 2020, there were increases in suicide rates in the United States across all racial groups, with the highest rates among White and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons, according to a research letter published online Dec. 19 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Bibha Dhungel, Dr.P.H., from Waseda University in Tokyo, and colleagues used nationally representative U.S. data from 1999 to 2020 to assess temporal trends and patterns in method-specific suicide by sex and race. Age-specific data on deaths by intentional self-harm were obtained for each year from 1999 to 2020. Suicide methods were categorized as poisoning, hanging, firearm-related, jumping from a high place, and other methods.

The researchers found that between 1999 and 2020, there were rapid increases in suicide mortality rates across all groups, but especially among White and AI/AN men, with age-standardized rates increasing from 19.6 to 26.5 per 100,000 persons among AI/AN men and from 4.6 to 7.6 per 100,000 persons among AI/AN women (relative increases, 35 and 65 percent, respectively). Firearms were the most common method of suicide among men, but rapid increases were seen among men and women in suicide by hanging. Firearms and hanging were the main means of suicide among AI/AN men and increased at similar rates; among AI/AN women, hanging increased from 1.4 to 4.1 deaths per 100,000 persons during the study period.

“Suicide prevention requires a multidimensional and race-specific approach, with strengthened antisuicide and antiviolence programs particularly important among White and AI/AN men,” the authors write.

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