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Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The U.S. suicide data show that use of lethal methods, specifically firearms and hanging/suffocation, has been increasing among young and middle-aged adults of both sexes over the past decades. In this study, we examined demographic and clinical correlates of use of firearms, ha...

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Autores principales: Choi, Namkee G., Marti, C. Nathan, Choi, Bryan Y.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9712777/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36466504
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.955008
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author Choi, Namkee G.
Marti, C. Nathan
Choi, Bryan Y.
author_facet Choi, Namkee G.
Marti, C. Nathan
Choi, Bryan Y.
author_sort Choi, Namkee G.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The U.S. suicide data show that use of lethal methods, specifically firearms and hanging/suffocation, has been increasing among young and middle-aged adults of both sexes over the past decades. In this study, we examined demographic and clinical correlates of use of firearms, hanging/suffocation, and poisoning as suicide methods among suicide decedents age 18+. METHODS: Data came from the 2017-2019 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS; N = 94,454, age ≥ 18 at the time of suicide; 74,042 men and 20,412 women). We fit generalized linear models (GLMs) for a Poisson distribution with a log link to examine (1) changes in four suicide methods (firearms, hanging/suffocation, poisoning, and other) during the study period, controlling for sex and age group; and (2) correlates of firearms, hanging/suffocation, and poisoning use. RESULTS: In all age groups, 55% of men and 30% of women used firearms; 28% of men and 29% of women hanging/suffocation; 9% of men and 32% of women poisoning, and 8% of men and 9% of women “other” methods. Men age < 45 had higher likelihood of firearm and/or hanging/suffocation use than those age 45–64. Women age<45 also had higher likelihood of hanging/suffocation than those age 45–64. Prior suicide attempt history was associated with higher likelihood of poisoning in both sexes and hanging/suffocation in men; mental disorders/SUD were associated with higher likelihood of hanging/suffocation and poisoning in both sexes; physical health problems were associated with higher likelihood poisoning in both sexes and firearm use in men; relationship problems were associated with higher likelihood of firearm use; legal problems and job/financial/housing problems were associated with higher likelihood of hanging/suffocation in both sexes; and more crises were associated with higher likelihood of firearm use in both sexes. IMPLICATIONS: The findings call for the following suicide prevention strategies: (1) restricted access to firearms; (2) improved access to mental health/substance use treatment; (3) improved long-term and palliative care services for those (mostly older adults) with physical health problems; (4) financial/housing support policies to mitigate economic hardship; and (5) more research to identify effective strategies to curtail the increasing use of firearm and hanging/suffocation among young and middle-aged adults.
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spelling pubmed-97127772022-12-02 Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics Choi, Namkee G. Marti, C. Nathan Choi, Bryan Y. Front Public Health Public Health BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The U.S. suicide data show that use of lethal methods, specifically firearms and hanging/suffocation, has been increasing among young and middle-aged adults of both sexes over the past decades. In this study, we examined demographic and clinical correlates of use of firearms, hanging/suffocation, and poisoning as suicide methods among suicide decedents age 18+. METHODS: Data came from the 2017-2019 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS; N = 94,454, age ≥ 18 at the time of suicide; 74,042 men and 20,412 women). We fit generalized linear models (GLMs) for a Poisson distribution with a log link to examine (1) changes in four suicide methods (firearms, hanging/suffocation, poisoning, and other) during the study period, controlling for sex and age group; and (2) correlates of firearms, hanging/suffocation, and poisoning use. RESULTS: In all age groups, 55% of men and 30% of women used firearms; 28% of men and 29% of women hanging/suffocation; 9% of men and 32% of women poisoning, and 8% of men and 9% of women “other” methods. Men age < 45 had higher likelihood of firearm and/or hanging/suffocation use than those age 45–64. Women age<45 also had higher likelihood of hanging/suffocation than those age 45–64. Prior suicide attempt history was associated with higher likelihood of poisoning in both sexes and hanging/suffocation in men; mental disorders/SUD were associated with higher likelihood of hanging/suffocation and poisoning in both sexes; physical health problems were associated with higher likelihood poisoning in both sexes and firearm use in men; relationship problems were associated with higher likelihood of firearm use; legal problems and job/financial/housing problems were associated with higher likelihood of hanging/suffocation in both sexes; and more crises were associated with higher likelihood of firearm use in both sexes. IMPLICATIONS: The findings call for the following suicide prevention strategies: (1) restricted access to firearms; (2) improved access to mental health/substance use treatment; (3) improved long-term and palliative care services for those (mostly older adults) with physical health problems; (4) financial/housing support policies to mitigate economic hardship; and (5) more research to identify effective strategies to curtail the increasing use of firearm and hanging/suffocation among young and middle-aged adults. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-11-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9712777/ /pubmed/36466504 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.955008 Text en Copyright © 2022 Choi, Marti and Choi. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Choi, Namkee G.
Marti, C. Nathan
Choi, Bryan Y.
Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics
title Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics
title_full Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics
title_fullStr Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics
title_full_unstemmed Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics
title_short Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017–2019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics
title_sort three leading suicide methods in the united states, 2017–2019: associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9712777/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36466504
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.955008
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