Suicides in the U.S. remained at about the highest level in history last year, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.
According to the provisional data, just over 49,300 suicide deaths were reported in 2023 but that number could increase if investigations are concluded.
The CDC said in 2021 and 2022, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death among all age groups in the U.S. It was a higher cause of death among people aged 10 to 34 years old.
In 2018, there was a peak in suicide rates, which declined through 2020 but new data shows it increased after the pandemic into 2022.
From 2002 to 2022, the CDC found the suicide rate for males was three to four times the rate of females, though both increased over time.
Firearm-related suicide was the leading means of suicide for both men and women in the U.S. and rates increased over time.
Suicide rates for men 75 years old and older was significantly higher than all other male age groups.
Male suicide rates have been worrisome for years. Their mental health is often overlooked and they are not as encouraged to treat mental health issues as women are, experts say. More women have been diagnosed with depression than men, likely because they tend to seek out care more often.
Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University public health professor, told The Associated Press that the decline in suicide rates around the start of the pandemic was “promising news.” The uptick since then, or return to what it was before, can be concerning.
New resources like a national crisis line, which allows anyone to dial 988 to reach someone, have been implemented nationally recently. The effects remain to be seen, Keyes said.
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