– Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US
– For every 1 successful suicide, there’s 25 unsuccessful attempts
– The rate of suicide is highest in middle age*
– In 2015, the highest suicide rate (19.6) was among adults between 45 and 64 years of age. The second highest rate (19.4) occurred in those 85 years or older.
– Younger groups have had consistently lower suicide rates than middle-aged and older adults. In 2015, adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24 had a suicide rate of 12.5.
– There is a common perception that suicide rates are highest among the young. However, it is the elderly, particularly that have the highest rates. And among 65 and older, risk goes up with age. 85 and older have a suicide rate that is six times that of the overall national rate.
– The ratio of suicide attempts to suicide death in youth is estimated to be about 25:1, compared to about 4:1 in the elderly.
So when older people attempt, they are more serious and successful at it
So what happened to those 65-84? Is that the 3rd highest rate then?
I didn’t know “middle age” is defined as 45-64. So someone who is in their 60s is middle age? I don’t know, I’ve met people in their 60s, darn near retirement, who don’t think they’re middle age at all. What about those in their 30s? or mid 40s? I always thought that was middle age.
So how come everyone talks about teen suicide and no one ever talks about middle-age or elder suicide?
30 comments
Best guess statistics: Each day, on average, one doctor dies from suicide. Suicide is the second most common cause of death among medical students (after “accidents,” which is not really elaborated or well investigated, from what I understand). But yes, female doctors/med students do have a higher rate than males. That’s consistent.
These are only estimates, as specific stats are not tracked for this demographic. Nobody can really say why it’s not tracked, as it seems like a relevant and important thing to keep an eye on. But it’s all fuzzy at present.
That’s cuz doctors have access to the best drugs so it’s much easier for them to do it. If you can get your hands on a “Peaceful Pill” (or Peaceful Drink), whatever your profession, the death rate would be higher.
They don’t seem to generally use peaceful pills. Unless you consider bullets a kind of pill. It’s mostly the insane stress of the job coupled with being submerged in human suffering, imo.
I wonder if they broke it down by specific medical profession, if anaesthesiologists have one of the highest suicide rates. Then again, the get to knock all their patients unconscious so not really as stressful as their other medical counterparts…
” Self-poisoning with drugs was more common in the doctors than in general population suicides (57% vs. 26.6%; OR=3.65, 95% CI 2.85–4.68), including in retired doctors. Barbiturates were the most frequent drugs used. Half of the anaesthetists who died used anaesthetic agents. Self?cutting was also more frequently used as a method of suicide. The finding that the greater proportion of suicide deaths in doctors were by self?poisoning may reflect the fact that doctors have ready access to drugs, and have knowledge of which drugs and doses are likely to cause death. The specific finding that a large proportion of suicides in anaesthetists involved anaesthetic agents supports this explanation. Availability of method may be a factor contributing to the relatively high suicide rate of doctors. This fact might influence clinical management of doctors who are known to be depressed or suicidal.” – QJM, International Journal of Medicine
Not what the NIH says.
“For physicians, firearms were the most common method (48%), followed by poisoning (23.5%), blunt trauma (14.5%), and asphyxia which included hanging (14%). Non physicians also used firearms as the most common method (54%), but asphyxia was the second most common cause of death (22%) followed by poisoning (18%) and then blunt trauma (6%).”
‘Details on suicide among U.S. physicians: Data from the National Violent Death Reporting System,’ Gen Hosp Psychiatry
Doctors can’t prescribe themselves meds, and most commonly seem to use benzodiazepines and barbiturates by psychiatric prescription.
Ah, the study I referenced above is from England and Wales, where it’s much harder to get handguns. NIH is USA. USA = land of guns. So sure. Also, methods vary by gender. Men tend to shoot themselves while women like a more peaceful way to go. Which also explains why women attempt more often but men are more successful at it.
The reason why suicide is the second leading cause of death, behind accidents, for this group, is that this age group is too young to have much of a natural causes death rate.
I am referring to medical students.
True
4:1 odds of the elderly vs 25:1 for youths. I’d chalk it up to their bodies being less resilient again the death stressors.
What are the other leading US causes? Heart disease, cancer, what else ?
Well considering elderly is 85+ and middle age is defined as 45-64, those in the 40s are not exactly frail here. Sure, the older you get, the less the body can take.
Because the world is geared towards youth, the young. The majority of advertising is geared towards youth. Technology, automobiles, clothing – target the young, they have an insatiable appetite for stuff, and they are the life blood of commerce. When a young person dies, it’s a tragedy – they had so much to live for, to look ahead to, so much spending potential. The middle aged? Like me? We’re not going to spend money that easily. We have issues that require medical procedures. We have insurance claims pending. We buy catheters, not cars, diapers, not Gucci. The sooner we’re out of the way, the sooner commerce can flourish at a more youthful level.
We’re just not that relevant of a demographic when it comes to things that are held important in our society. We live in a youth oriented society. When youth dies, hope dies with it. When middle age or older dies, it was expected, so if suicide is a leading cause of death among the middle aged, well, it’s ok, because we have one foot in the grave already, our usefulness towards society is waning anyways. But all those potential sources of income living in their prime spending years – oh, God no, they must remain alive to fuel the fires of finance.
Yes, this is true for western societies. In other cultures, and traditionally around the world, the elderly are much more valued (for their wisdom and what-not). If you go to other countries, you see their attitudes toward the young and old are so much different than here.
But you are right- in this culture, the youth are revered and the old are considered throw-aways. Except to the medical industry- the elderly are the lifeblood of their business.
You got that right, about the financial relationship between the elderly and the medical corporations. I intend to deprive the medical industry of one of it’s lifeblood opportunities. I’m 60 and to me depriving those thieves of their billing opportunity on behalf my normal aging and their eagerness to prolong suffering is a moral imperative. I don’t support organized crime no matter how well it dresses or how shiny it’s corporate offices are.
Medicine as a business might be one of the root causes of a lot of these statistics.
@rivets Could be. My research suggests that medicine was a non-profit in the US until perhaps the late 1930s. Those where very interesting times for the medical world.
Yes, and once that happened, people magically became sicker and sicker and healthcare became ever more expensive. Nah, these despots behind “medicine” would never harm us! They wouldn’t price-gouge us on necessary life-saving things like emergency epi-pens by 500% because they can and because they had the only patent to it, now would they? Oh they did? Oh how strange, $$ over people’s lives…
@ eternaldarkness Not only that but they would not charge $3200 to push an old man in a wheel chair across the street. Nor would they charge between $400 to $12000 for the very same lab test depending on the payer. And no they absolutely would not pass on a natural antibiotic that is cheap, virtually harmless, and just as effective as one they write a prescription for. Nope, that those despots.
Now… suicide in Guyana that sh-t is INSANE
I googled that. In 2012 it peaked at 35/100000 vs the US then 10/100000. I hear it is a bit less now. At least dead are beyond the reach of harmful people.
These statistics never seem to mention the percentage of deaths that are suicides. In the U.S., the figure is 1.6%.
Which means that people are 62.5 times more likely to die from all other causes combined than they are from suicide. I wish the forced living people would get out of our lives and go pester someone that cares.
People who successfully commit suicide are 98% more likely to die from suicide.
People who commit suicide are 100% fed up with life and life’s bullshits.
1) 37.4% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
2) Gleaning meaningful information from a suicide site is an exercise in futility.
3) If self proclaimed “suicidal people” killed themselves instead of complaining, this site wouldn’t exist.
Feel free to delete this comment, that’s what suppressors of truth do. 🙂
How do you live with yourself?
(Don’t answer, I don’t care).
(Poseuer).
Why do you always attack eternal darkness? I think I can speak for everyone when I say: F**k off
Hey, quit putting dirty things in my mouth. Wait, that came out wrong…
Thanks Kochevnik. Some people are so hateful and have nothing better going on in their lives so they go online and harass others to make themselves feel better.