Bottom Line: Using unadjusted suicide rates to describe trends may be skewed because they are affected by differences in age and year of birth. This secondary analysis of data included total population and suicide deaths by single year of age from 10 to 19 and by sex from 1999 to 2017 and accounted for those factors. Unadjusted suicide rates for females were 1.6 per 100,000 in 1999 and 3.5 per 100,000 in 2017, while adjusted rates that accounted for differences in age and year of birth increased from 1.7 per 100,000 in 1999 to 4.2 per 100,000 in 2017. Unadjusted rates for males were 7.4 per 100,000 in 1999 and 10.7 per 100,000 in 2017, while adjusted rates were 4.9 per 100,000 in 1999 and 8.7 per 100,000 in 2017. A limitation of the study is the use of data and coding in which the misclassification of suicide death cannot be completely ruled out.
Authors: Bin Yu, M.D., M.P.H., University of Florida, Gainesville, and coauthors
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.11383)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.