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Gun use escalates higher rural suicide rates

Analysis of suicide rates in Maryland indicated male firearm use increased suicide rates in rural areas.

“The reason that rural suicide rates are higher is because people in these areas are killing themselves with guns,” Paul S. Nestadt, MD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a press release. “The media focuses on homicides committed with guns, but only one in three deaths by firearm are homicides. The other two are suicides. Most of the other leading causes of death are going down. Suicides are going up — and firearms are a big reason why.”

To assess the role of firearm use in differences in rural and urban suicide rates, researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 6,196 adult suicides in Maryland from 2003 through 2015.

Overall, suicide rates were higher in rural counties, compared with urban counties.

However, higher rural suicide rates were limited to firearm suicides (IRR = 1.66; 95% CI, 1.2-2.31), while nonfirearm suicide rates were not significantly higher in rural counties.

The majority (89%) of firearm suicides occurred among men. Further, the higher rural firearm suicide rate was limited to men (IRR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.09-1.69).

Regardless of method, women were significantly less likely to complete suicide in rural areas (IRR = 0.63; 95% CI, 0.43-0.94).

“It is often said that people would kill themselves anyway, even if they didn’t have access to guns. There is an entire body of research that tells us that is simply not true,” Nestadt said in the release. “If there is no gun around, many people won’t have the means to follow through on those impulses, or would use a less lethal method with a much greater chance of survival. Suicide is an impulse and can only be carried out by firearm if there is a gun in the drawer. Any barrier you can put up can work.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Nestadt reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.