By Kaitlin Sullivan -
NBC News
In the early days of the pandemic, anxiety, isolation and financial uncertainty were feared to lead to an increase in suicides.
Instead, the numbers declined in 2020 for the second year in a row after two decades of growth, according to preliminary federal data released Wednesday.
Although suicides decreased in the United States, there were increases among young adults, as well as among American Indians and Alaska Natives, Black Americans and Hispanics, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC , for its acronym in English).
[This woman died from 20 stab wounds but the autopsy concluded that she committed suicide. Lack of evidence would make it a perfect crime]
Rates of people taking their own lives in the United States had risen 35% between 1999 and 2018, before a slight decline of 2% in 2019.
New data from the CDC, which included 99% of suicides in 2020, showed a further 3% decline last year.
The drop in these events for white men and women primarily led to declines in both 2019 and 2020. Rates for white Americans fell 5% - the highest of any group - followed by a 4% drop for white Americans. Asian origin.
White men saw a 3% decrease, while white women overall saw a 10% decrease.
The overall rate among women decreased by 8% between 2019 and 2020 and by 2% among men.
Among younger Americans, the rates of people taking their own lives increased slightly in all groups aged 10 to 34, although the only significant increase was 5% among those aged 25 to 34, according to the report.
[They catch the murder of a man in cold blood in the middle of the street]
The numbers were by far the highest among American Indians and Alaska Natives, increasing by 5% in 2020, followed by white Americans.
Black Americans and Hispanics had similar suicide rates.
Black and Hispanic women had lower numbers among all groups, but those numbers don't show the whole picture.
This is the first time the CDC has produced a report based on preliminary data.
"We knew from the initial quarterly data that what was happening in the groups was different, and we wanted to look at those differences," said Sally Curtin, a CDC statistician who led the study.
Curtin noted that while suicide rates among Black and Hispanic Americans were still much lower than those of American Indians and Alaska Natives and white populations, overall, they were higher in 2020 than in 2019 for both black Americans. as for Hispanics.
The increase in minority populations is concerning, and may not be related to the pandemic at all.
Dr. MARIA OQUENDO
Although suicide rates among black girls and women ages 10 to 24 are low compared to other groups, deaths in this group increased more than 30%, from 1.6 to 2.1 per 100,000 people.
Black boys and men of the same age saw a 23% increase, from 3 to 3.7 per 100,000.
Among Hispanic women in this age group, the rate increased 40%, from 1.5 to 2.1 per 100,000 people.
Hispanic men in this age group experienced a 20% increase, from 2 to 2.4.
[He faked his own suicide. Now going to jail for pandemic loan fraud]
Asian women ages 15-24 also experienced a nearly 30% increase in suicides, from 4.9 to 6.2 per 100,000.
"The overall decline in suicides from 2018 to 2019 may be the beginning of a trend, and that's very welcome," said Dr. Maria Oquendo, chair of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, who was not involved. in the study.
"What this data also tells us is that some of the increases that we are seeing among minority groups also appear to be trending upward."
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The CDC report did not examine the reasons for the suicide, only the numbers.
"The increase that we are seeing in minority populations is concerning, and may not be related to the pandemic, because we already saw an increase in 2019," Oquendo said, noting that this was not always the case.
"Whatever is happening in these communities is very concerning because historically they have been relatively protected from suicidal behavior."
Oquendo also stressed that the numbers of people who kill themselves among American Indians and Alaska Natives remain alarmingly high, with rates almost three times higher than those of black or Hispanic Americans.
[University of North Carolina cancels classes Tuesday for two alleged suicides on its campus]
“I would like to emphasize that the incredibly high rates among AIAN populations have been around for a long, long time.
This is something that needs enormous attention ”, he affirmed.
Some populations at high risk for suicide, such as LGBTQ Americans, are not accounted for in the CDC data, Oquendo said.
"We know from the data collected on suicide elsewhere that sexual minorities have a much higher risk of suicidal behavior," he recalled.
“But since the CDC has not historically maintained data on that information, we don't really know what the suicide rates are in this population.
It is a gap in our knowledge, "he added.
Did the pandemic make things worse?
According to Craig Bryan, director of the Ohio State University Suicide Prevention Program, the 2020 data responds to a paradox long recognized by those who study suicide.
"Historically, we know that during times of crisis we tend to see reductions in suicides," he told our sister network NBC News.
“Did the pandemic make things worse?
That's what most people assumed would happen, and I hope the pandemic made things worse for some people and made things better for others, "he said.
[Lack of staff in psychiatric centers leaves patients in limbo]
A study of 21 wealthy and upper-middle-income nations, published in April in The Lancet, revealed that suicides during the first months of the pandemic either stayed the same or fell below what pre-coronavirus figures predicted.
Preliminary data from the CDC echoed this, reporting a 14% decline in suicides in the United States in April 2020 compared to April 2019.
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"This is not a magnitude of change that we usually see from year to year," Curtin said, noting that this was also during the tightest closures and a time when crisis phone lines saw a massive increase in calls.
Bryan attributed some of the progress to people staying home with their families and expanding access to mental health care through telehealth.
"It is very possible that there have been more family connections, but there are also other possibilities," Bryan said.
"When you are at home with other people, you don't have as much time to yourself, and there is more likely someone nearby who can rescue or intervene in an attempt to take your life."
[“I always want to cry”: this is how COVID-19 damages the mental health of Latinos, and how sadness and anxiety can be combatted]
Another key factor is that suicide is a complex event, and mental illness is not the only influencing factor.
"Actually, it may be a much less important factor than suicide prevention efforts suggest," Bryan said.
There is an important difference between natural reactions to extreme stress and mental illnesses like anxiety and depression, which may have been overdiagnosed during the pandemic, according to Bryan.
"Increased tension or stress is not the same as mental illness," he said.
“Many of us had increased stress during the pandemic, and these reactions are part of the human experience.
We may have over-pathologized the symptoms of depression and anxiety when in reality we were all reacting normally to a big change. "