Getting Serious About Reducing Suicide

Abstract

Between 2005 and 2012, age-adjusted mortality rates declined for all 10 leading causes of death in the United States—except for suicide. The rate of suicide increased from 10.9 per 100 000 in 2005 to 12.6 per 100 000 in 2012.1 Suicide accounted for 41 149 deaths in 2013, the latest year for which national data are available. In 2013, suicide was the second leading cause of death in 15- to 34-year-olds, claiming 11 226 lives in this age group.2 What is different about suicide, and why has there been so little progress in preventing it?