Suicide is the leading cause of injury death for Massachusetts residents, resulting in almost 500 deaths annually. In Massachusetts, suicide rates (7.2 per 100,000) exceed homicide rates (2.4 per 100,000). For intentional, non-fatal injuries resulting in hospitalization, self-inflicted injuries also exceed assault-related injuries. The average annual number of hospitalizations for 1995-7 was 4,103 for self-inflicted injuries and 1,655 for assaults. The most common methods used to complete suicide were hanging and firearms, respectively, while poisoning was most often used in attempts. More males completed suicide (11.8 vs. 3.0 per 100,000), while more females were hospitalized for suicide attempts (79.9 vs. 52.2 per 100,000). Males are more likely to use firearms, while women tend to use poisoning, perhaps contributing to the higher fatality among males. It appears that males over 75 years old have the highest suicide completion rates. In contrast, youth aged 15-24 are most at risk for non-fatal self-inflicted injury, followed by 25-34 year olds. When the data were examined for differences among race/ethnicity, white non-Hispanics had the highest death rate for both males (12.7 per 100,000) and females (3.3 per 100,000) when compared to black non-Hispanics and Hispanics. However for non-fatal self-inflicted injuries, preliminary data show Hispanic and black non-Hispanic residents have higher hospitalization rates.
The data sources for analysis were the Registry of Vital Records & Statistics, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Set, Division of Health Care Finance and Policy.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Suicide, Data/Surveillance
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.