WEDNESDAY, Nov. 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) — From 2021 to 2022, there was an increase in the provisional number of suicides and in age-adjusted suicide rates, according to a November Vital Statistics Rapid Release report, a publication from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sally C. Curtin, from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues presented the provisional number of deaths due to suicide in 2022 by demographic characteristics using data from all 2022 death records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of Aug. 6, 2023.

The researchers note that the provisional number of suicides in 2022 was 49,449 in the United States, which was 3 percent higher than the 48,183 suicides in 2021. The provisional age-adjusted suicide rate was 1 percent higher in 2022 than 2021 (14.3 versus 14.1 per 100,000 standard population). For males and females, the age-adjusted suicide rate was 1 and 4 percent higher, respectively (23.1 versus 22.8 and 5.9 versus 5.7, respectively). For males, suicide rates generally declined for those ages 34 years and younger and increased for those ages 35 years and older. For females, rates declined and increased for those ages 24 years and younger and for those ages 25 years and older, respectively. For nearly all race and Hispanic-origin groups, suicide rates increased, although the only significant increase was seen for White non-Hispanic females (3 percent increase).

“The 2022 final number of suicides is likely to be higher as additional death certificates with pending causes of death may be determined to be suicides,” the authors write.

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