Indicator Profile of Suicide Deaths
Why Is This Important?
From 2004 to 2008, Utah's age-adjusted suicide rate was 15.2 per 100,000 persons. This is an average of 366 suicides per year. Utah has one of the highest age-adjusted suicide rates in the U.S. It is the leading cause of death for Utahns ages 35 to 44 years old and the 2nd leading cause of death for Utahns ages 15 to 34 years old (1).Completed suicides are only the tip of the iceberg. More people are hospitalized or treated in an emergency room for suicide attempts than are fatally injured. According to the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, during the past 12 months before the survey, 7.2% of Utah high school students attempted suicide one or more times and 3.2% of these students suffered an injury, poisoning, or an overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse. Data from the 2005 to 2007 Utah Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System showed that males and females 85 years and older had the highest prevalence (8.0% and 12.4% respectively) of reported thoughts of hurting themselves or that they would be better off dead one or more times in the past two weeks (2).
Suicide is a complex public health issue where victims may be blamed and family members stigmatized. Consequently, suicide is not openly discussed making it difficult to collect meaningful data that is vital to suicide prevention efforts.
Sources:
1) CDC, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), 2006 data.
2) Utah Health Status Update, Teen And Adult Suicide, July 2008, http://health.utah.gov/opha/publications/hsu/08Jul_Suicide.pdf (accessed 10/26/2009).
Data Notes
Suicides are determined using ICD-10 codes X60-X84, Y87.0, U03.Data Sources
Population Estimates: Utah Governor's Office of Planning and Budget; Utah Death Certificate Database, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, Utah Department of Health;Other Views
- by Sex and Year, Utah and U.S., 2003-2008
- by Local Health District, Utah, 2004-2008
- by Small Area, Utah, 2004-2008
- by Method of Injury and Sex, Utah, 2004-2008
- by Race, Utah, 2005-2007
- by Ethnicity, Utah, 2005-2007
- by High School Student Risk Factor and Sex, Utah, YRBS 2009
Definition
Suicides are reported as the number of resident deaths resulting from the intentional use of force against oneself per 100,000 population.How We Calculated the Rates
| Numerator: | Number of deaths resulting from the intentional use of force against oneself. |
| Denominator: | Total number of persons in the population of Utah. |
Page Content Updated On 10/26/09,
Published on 10/27/09
