H E A L T H
RGVISION MAGAZINE
.
MAR/APR 2018
SUICIDE:ENDING THE SILENCE according to 2016 data from the American Association of Suicidology. Data from the same report shows suicide rates differ between genders, age groups, and sexual orientation. In 2016, the suicide rate for women was 6.2 and for men it was 21.8. Although, the rates differ at different age groups, the rates for women indicate that they have the highest rate for those aged 45 to 64 years old. For men, the suicide rate was the highest in males 75 years and older. Although the highest number of suicides are committed by adults, suicide is the second leading cause of death in individuals between the ages of 15 and 34, and the third leading cause in children between the ages of 10 to 14, according to the American Association of Suicidology. Youths who are a part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community have higher rates of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. They are three times more likely to report thoughts of suicide in comparison to their
The act of voluntarily ending one’s life is a tragic event that causes immeasurable emotional repercussions and irreplaceable losses of human lives. Suicide is a difficult topic to have a conversation about, but the only way to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts is by knowing the statistics, understanding risk and protective factors, dismantling the myths, and being aware of the resources that are available in our communities.
THE STATISTICS In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. The suicide rate has been slowly increasing in the last decade, and in 2016, the suicide rate was 13.9 per 100,000 people. In this same year, there were over 1 million suicide attempts and more than 44,000 people took their own lives. A total of 3,488 Texans took their own lives in 2016, making the Texas suicide rate 12.5 per 100,000 people,
58