…………HANGING preferred method.

By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer, 9-6-2007
The suicide rate among preteen and young teen girls spiked 76 percent, a disturbing
sign that federal health officials say they can’t fully explain.
For all young people between ages 10 to 24 [ teens now go up to age 25??? ] , the
suicide rate rose 8 percent from 2003 to 2004 ? the biggest single-year bump in
15 years ? in what one official called “a dramatic and huge increase.”
The report, based on the latest numbers available, was released Thursday by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and suggests a troubling reversal in
recent trends. Suicide rates had fallen by 28.5 percent since 1990 among young people.
The biggest increase ? about 76 percent ? was in the suicide rate for 10- to 14-year-old
girls. There were 94 suicides in that age group in 2004, compared to 56 in 2003.
The rate is still low ? fewer than one per 100,000 population.
Suicide rates among older teen girls, those aged 15-19 shot up 32 percent; rates
for males in that age group rose 9 percent.
“In surveillance speak, this is a dramatic and huge increase,” Dr. Ileana
Arias said of the overall picture. She is director of the CDC’s National Center
for Injury Prevention and Control.
*
Overall, there were 4,599 suicides among young people in 2004, making it the third-leading
cause of death, surpassed only by car crashes and homicide, Arias said. Males committed
suicide far more often than females, accounting for about three-quarters of suicides
in this age group.
The study also documented a change in suicide method. In 1990, guns accounted for
more than half of all suicides among young females. By 2004, though, death by hanging
and suffocation became the most common suicide method. It accounted for about 71
percent of all suicides in girls aged 10-14; about half of those aged 15-19; and
34 percent between 20-24.
“While we can’t say (hanging) is a trend yet, we are confident that’s
an unusually high number in 2004,” said Dr. Keri Lubell, a CDC behavioral scientist
who was one of the study authors.
Scientists speculated that hanging may have become the most accessible method [time
to ban clothesline?].
“It is possible that hanging and suffocation is more easily available than
other methods, especially for these other groups,” Arias said.
The CDC is advising health officials to consider focusing suicide prevention programs
on girls ages 10-19 and boys between 15-19 to reverse the trends. It also said the
suicide methods suggest that prevention focused solely on restricting access to
pills, weapons or other lethal means may be of limited success.
*
“Suicide is a multidimensional and complex problem,” Arias said. “As
much as we’d like to attribute suicide to a single source so we can fix it,
unfortunately we can’t do that.”
More education is needed, some specialists said, so that teachers, parents and others
can quickly spot troubled teens.
“It underscores the need for more evaluation methods for school personnel and
pediatricians to be able to better identify at-risk youth,” said Dr. Alec Miller,
director of the adolescent depression and suicide program at Montefiore Medical
Center in New York. “They are out there, and everyone needs to be better trained
in identification.”
He said people who commit suicide tend to have a psychiatric condition, even if
it has not been formally diagnosed.
Arias said warning signs include mental illness, alcohol and drug use, family dysfunction
and relationship problems.
“For some, talking about suicide is awkward,” she said. “Our goal
is to stop suicides, and to do that we need everyone’s willingness to talk about
it.
___
On the Net:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/suicide