The provisional number of 49,999 suicides was three percent higher than the final total of 48,183 suicides in 2021.
The suicide rate increased by one percent in 2022 to more than 14.3 deaths per 100,000 from 14.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2021 – marking this as “the highest number ever recorded” since NCHS began compiling statistics in 1941.
The agency researchers noted that the final count of death by suicide would likely be higher as additional death certificates with pending causes of death typically require investigations of circumstances surrounding the deaths before the causes are determined to be suicides.
Male suicides increased by two percent from 38,358 in 2021 to 39,255 in 2022, while the number of female suicides increased by four percent from 9,825 in 2021 to 10,194 in 2022. The provisional number of male suicides in 2022 was nearly four times that of female suicides.
Suicide rates for all age groups 35 years and older increased from three percent in 2021 to nine percent in 2022 – with significant increases for those aged 35 to 44 (from 18.1 to 18.7); aged 45 to 54 (from 18.2 to 19.2); aged 55 to 64 (from 17.0 to 18.5); and aged 75 and older (from 20.3 to 21.3).
In contrast, suicide rates for all age groups 10 to 34 years decreased from 2021 to 2022 – aged 10 to 14 (by 18 percent); aged 15 to 25 (by nine percent); and aged 25 to 24 (by two percent). The authors pointed out that this seemed to be the only good news from the report released by the National Vital Statistics System.
Most age groups of men 35 and older experienced increases, with significant increases among those aged 45 to 54 and 55 to 64. All age groups for females 25 and older experienced increases – with a significant increase for those aged 25 to 34.
America's mental health crisis
Mental heart experts said the report reflected "broad struggles" to help people in mental distress following the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that killed more than a million in the U.S., radically impacted the economy, and left many afraid, lonely and socially isolated. (Related: Surgeon General: LONELINESS has risks "comparable to smoking,")
Psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Leichter at Sanford Health said: "There was a rupture in our economic health and social fabric and we're still experiencing the aftereffects of that."
An increasing shortage of health workers and the trafficking of illegal drugs (abused substances, dangerous drugs, designer drugs, fake dope) have facilitated the rise in suicides as well, added experts.
Federal data showed that mental health care had become harder to find than before the pandemic and about half of the people in the U.S. live in an area without access to a mental health professional. (Related: Coronavirus lockdowns causing jump in suicides among middle-class workers in India.)
The steadily increasing suicides during the 21st century have prompted U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to issue a call to action in 2021 on a national strategy for suicide prevention and a youth and mental health advisory, ABC News reported.
In July last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services launched the three-digit 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. According to federal data, since its launch, 988 Lifeline network centers have received about seven million calls, chats and texts, including more than 500,000 in September alone.
Researchers in a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open indicated that about six percent of some 5,000 respondents reported using 988 when they were experiencing serious psychological distress and about a third of them said they would use it again in the future.
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