Epidemiology of suicide

Abstract

Epidemiologic trends in suicide are reviewed as a foundation for understanding who is at risk for suicide, and what constitute the primary risk factors. Recent data are presented concerning suicide rates and trends in the general population, with breakdowns according to age, sex, race and marital status. Special attention is given to the recent shift toward higher suicide rates in younger age groups. Consideration is also given to other sociodemographic factors and to geographic differences in rates of suicide. An important application of information about risk factors for suicide is to suicide prediction, which is discussed here from a methodologic and clinical viewpoint. The role of low base rates in limiting predictive value is evaluated in light of several large-scale empirical studies. We conclude that numerical risk assessment (e.g., using logistic regression analysis) offers one potentially useful means of summarizing epidemiologic and clinical information as an initial step in addressing various issues of suicide prediction, intervention, and prevention.