Indicator Profile of Suicide Deaths

Why Is This Important?

Violence is a major public health problem in the United States and the 11th leading cause of death among Americans (National Vital Statistics Report, 2003).

In Utah from 2001 to 2006, there were an average of 344 suicides per year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates are generally higher than the national average in Western states and lower in Eastern and Midwestern states.

According to the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 28.2% of Utah high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless, 16.2% seriously considered attempting suicide, 14.1% made a suicide plan, 8.4% attempted suicide, and 3.0% were treated by a health care provider for a suicide attempt.

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. Suicide evokes difficult and uncomfortable feelings in which victims are blamed and family members are stigmatized. Consequently, suicide is shrouded in secrecy, making it difficult to collect meaningful data that is crucial to suicide prevention efforts.

Suicide Deaths by Age Group and Sex, Utah, 2001-2006

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View Graph Values

Data Notes

Suicides are determined by using ICD-10 codes X60-X84, Y87.0, U03.  Values for females ages 0-12 and 85+ have been suppressed because the number of events is too small to produce reliable estimates.

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


Definition

Suicide rates are reported as the number of 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 onself.
Denominator: Total number of persons in the population of Utah.

Page Content Updated On 10/23/07, Published on 11/21/07
Violence and Injury Prevention Program, Bureau of Health Promotion, Division of Community and Family Health Services, Utah Department of Health, Salt Lake City, UT Telephone: (801) 538-6864. Email: vipp@utah.gov. Website: www.health.utah.gov/vipp
The information provided above is from the Utah Department of Health's Center for Health Data IBIS-PH web site (http://ibis.health.utah.gov). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: "Retrieved Thu, 22 May 2008 14:11:00 from Utah Department of Health, Center for Health Data, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.utah.gov".

Content updated: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:25:05 MDT