Letter: Males more likely to commit suicide

Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007 | 7:06 a.m.

An article in the Aug. 5 Las Vegas Sun, "Elders deepen tragedy of state's suicide rate," starts this way: "The suicide rate among elderly Nevadans is nearly three times the national average ..." That article didn't include important additional data about which groups are most at risk for suicide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives some of that data:

"Groups at Risk - Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death for all U.S. men (Anderson and Smith 2003). Males are four times more likely to die from suicide than females. Suicide rates are highest among whites and second highest among American Indian and Native Alaskan men. Of the 24,672 suicide deaths reported among men in 2001, 60 percent involved the use of a firearm. Women report attempting suicide during their lifetime about three times as often as men." (Source: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm)

Public and private policies for reducing suicide are more likely to succeed if their bases include these facts. Even well-informed people may not be aware that "successful" suicide is so disproportionately a risk to men and boys rather than to women and girls.

Mark Bramlette, Henderson