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White Mountain Apache suicide rates drop 38%

Despite national rates remaining stable, suicide death rates significantly decreased among members of the White Mountain Apache tribe following implementation of a suicide prevention program.

“Suicide is a public health problem that many don’t see as preventable. In recent years, suicide deaths have surpassed deaths due to motor vehicle crashes, and suicide is the leading cause of death globally for girls between the ages of 15 and 19,” Mary F. Cwik, PhD, of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, said in a press release. “This study shows how a courageous community, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, used legislation and community mental health workers to successfully address suicide as a public health crisis.”

To assess the impact of a comprehensive, multi-tiered youth suicide prevention program among the White Mountain Apache of Arizona, researchers evaluated data from the Celebrating Life surveillance system for suicide deaths and attempts from 2001 to 2006, before program implementation, and 2007 to 2012.

Overall, suicide death rates decreased 38.3% from 40 to 24.7 per 100,000 among White Mountain Apache.

Among individuals aged 15 to 24 years, suicide death rates decreased from 128.5 to 99 per 100,000, a 23% decrease.

Annual number of suicide attempts decreased from 75 individuals in 2007 to 35 in 2012.

During this time, national rates remained stable at 10 to 13 per 100,000.

“Suicide is a multifaceted and complicated public health problem,” Cwik said in the release. “There is still a lot of work to do, particularly in understanding how to prevent clusters of deaths, or what we call ‘contagion,’ especially among young people. It is imperative to sustain locally driven efforts, especially after seeing these promising results. The surveillance system and linked prevention programs have shown they can save many young lives.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: The study was supported by the Native American Research Centers in Health initiative and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration youth suicide prevention initiative.