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Suicide rates increase in black children, decrease in white children
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Over a 20-year period, stable childhood suicide rates were offset by an increased rate in children who were black and a decreased rate in children who were white, according to recent data published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Researchers examined national mortality data from the CDC to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of childhood suicide. Data showed that 657 children aged 5 to 11 years died from suicide between 1993 and 2012, 84% of which were boys.
The rate of suicide was stable across the observed study period, with 1.18 suicides per 1 million children between 1993 to 1997 and 1.09 per million between 2008 to 2012 (incidence rate ratio = 0.96; 95% CI, 0.9-1.03).
Further investigation demonstrated racial disparities, yielding an increase of suicide among black children from 1.36 to 2.54 per million (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.27; 95% CI, 1.11-1.45) and a decrease in white children from 1.14 to 0.77 per million (IRR = 0.86; 95% CI, 0.79-0.94). Researchers wrote that this finding may be related to disproportionate exposure to violence, hostile school discipline and early onset of puberty among black children.
A subgroup analysis showed that the significant racial difference between suicide rates were restricted to boys. Suicide incidence in boys who were black increased from 1.78 to 3.47 per million and decreased in boys who were white from 1.96 to 1.31 per million.
Moreover, hanging/suffocation, the most common cause of suicide (78.2%), increased from 1.16 to 3.22 per million (incident rate ratio = 1.35; 95% CI, 1.14-1.61) in boys who were black. Meanwhile, suicide by firearms (17.7%) decreased in all children from 0.38 to 0.14 per million, and more specifically in boys who were white from 0.71 to 0.31 per million (IRR = 0.72; 95% CI, 0.59-0.88).
Among girls, suicide rates were consistent in those who were white whereas a nonsignificant decline was observed in girls who were black.
“From a public health perspective, future steps should include ongoing surveillance to monitor these emerging trends and research to identify risk, protective, and precipitating factors associated with suicide in elementary school-aged children to frame targets for early detection and culturally informed interventions,” Jeffrey A. Bridge, PhD, from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, and colleagues concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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