magnitude and indicators

Surveillance is the collection of data over a time period that is analyzed to assess the problem. For suicide, surveillance is used to show how much deaths there are within the year. This data can be collected from death reports and hospital records for suicide attempts. Many of the data are organized into age groups and gender. Suicide rates can be seen through years, and some years are higher than others, indicating there is something wrong. Especially if the number of suicide rates is increasing, there is a large problem.

Statistics show suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students. In the 1970s to 1980s, the suicide rate for the youth increased by forty percent. This was 8.8 deaths per 100,000 in 1970s to 12.3/100,000 in 1980. During this time period, suicide from firearm also increased. Young white male adults had the highest rate of suicide and the rate of male to female was 5 to 1. This surveillance of youth suicide rates is from the CDC.

In another study from CDC, from the years 1994 to 2004, suicide was the third leading cause of death for the youth ages 10 to 24 in the United States. There was 4,599 deaths in 2004. The trend drops a bit during 1994 to 2004, but from 2003 to 2004 there is a sudden increase. For females aged 10 to 14 by 75%, 32% for females 15 to 19, and by 9% for males from 15 to 19. This data was collected from WISQARS.

For direct indicators, there would be a sudden increase of suicide for the youth to show there is a problem. The number of suicide rising would indicate there is a problem and something needs to be fixed. Even if the number is not rising, but is continually high, action needs to be taken. Another direct indicator would be if there is an increase in people receiving counseling. Also, if people are being hospitalized from suicide attempts, that would be an indicator.

For indirect indicators, a rise in sell of depressant medicine can show higher number of people are more likely to commit suicide. The most common method of suicide is firearms or poisoning, so if the sells of these products increase, that would be an indirect indicator. Another is if suicide is in the media a lot. People are more likely to be influenced by it, and think about committing suicide.

I think the data showing the deaths per 100,000 is a strong data as it is easier to understand for many people. It has the incidence rate and the population affected. Just saying there were 4599 deaths doesn't have an affect because the denominator is not known. The data that is detailed is more effective.

sources used:

http://www.spanusa.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=0D213AD4-C50A-1085-4DD96CE0EEED52A0

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000871.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5635a2.htm#tab