United States: Suicide rates among older people are rising steeply, says the recent data from a report shared by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
As per NCHS, the US suicide rate has reached an 80-year high in 2022 of nearly 50,000 people. The rate of 14.3 suicides per 100,000 people is the highest since 1941. However, there have been intermittent rises in suicide rates dating back more than a century, with peaks during World War I, the Great Depression, and the Great Recession.
Sally Curtin, an NCHS statistician and lead author of the report, said that the rates among older Americans had begun to decline, but the latest increase in deaths began in 2020.
According to experts, this rise is attributed to some extent to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic because of losses in social connection, a decrease in access to health facilities, and the availability of firearms (as 70% of the suicide cases among elderly people involved firearms) in the United States factored in half of the suicide cases as, USA Today report.
Curtin also said that deaths among people younger than 25 have declined from 2021, but the suicides among people older than 35 have risen. Men tend to have a higher suicide rate as they age. This rate is highest among men aged 75 and older: It’s nearly 44 deaths per 100,000 people.
As USA Today reported, Curtin also mentioned that non-Hispanic white men tend to have the highest rates of suicide at older ages.
What’s the cause?
The psychologists outlined that the impetus varies for different cases, but the trigger factors can be summed up as “the five D’s.”
These are depression, disability because of functional impairment, disease with illness and pain, disconnectedness from others, and access to deadly weapons.
Understanding these factors is important so they can be intervened in a timely.
Kathleen Cameron, a senior director at the nonprofit National Council on Aging, says that it is assumed that it’s normal to become depressed and isolated as you become older, but that’s just ageism rearing its head.
She also mentioned, “Everyone deserves to have a healthy, well-rounded, good life as they age,” and continued saying, “No matter what health conditions they may have, “according to the reports by USA Today.
Stressful life events, such as the loss of a spouse or friend, contribute to depression and social isolation, says Peter Franz, a clinical assistant professor at the Psychiatry Research Institute of Montefiore Einstein in New York. This may explain why older people have suicidal thoughts that contribute to a rising suicide rate, Franz explained.
The suicide rate among the older population is higher: Report
According to the recently conducted VA report, the suicide rate among veterans is much higher as compared to the suicide rate among the average aged population. Accordingly, the suicide rate among veterans has surged up to 11.6 percent from 2020 to 2021.
After observing such higher numbers, concerns have been raised among the experts, who have suggested that people who feel suicidal must ask for help.