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Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases in every age group except older adults. The rise was particularly steep for women. It was also substantial among middle-aged Americans, sending a signal of deep anguish from a group whose suicide rates had been stable or falling since the 1950s. The suicide rate for middle-aged women, ages 45 to 64, jumped by 63 percent over the period of the study, while it rose by 43 percent for men in that age range, the sharpest increase for males of any age. The overall suicide rate rose by 24 percent from 1999 to 2014, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which released the study on Friday. (Tavernise, 4/22)

Last decade’s severe recession, more drug addiction, “gray divorce,” increased social isolation, and even the rise of the Internet and social media may have contributed to the growth in suicide, according to a variety of people who study the issue. But economic distress — and dashed hopes generally — may underpin some of the increase, particularly for middle-aged white people. The data showed a 1 percent annual increase in suicide between 1999 and 2006 but a 2 percent yearly hike after that, as the economy deteriorated, unemployment skyrocketed and millions lost their homes. (Keating and Bernstein, 4/22)

While more men kill themselves than women, the suicide rate for women rose faster between 1999 and 2014 than it did for men. “It narrowed the gap,” said Sally Curtin, a statistician at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics and an author of the report. The report showed a surge in suicides among middle-age men and women, a factor noted in rising death rates among middle-aged people and a decline in white Americans’ life expectancy in 2014. The suicide rate for white women ages 45 to 64 rose 80% and for white men of that age group 59% between 1999 and 2014, according to a second CDC report released on Friday. There were increases in the suicide rate of every age group for both sexes except those 75 and older. That includes a startling tripling in the suicide rate for the youngest girls, ages 5 to 14. (McKay, 4/22)

All told, some 42,773 Americans died of suicide in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That made suicide the 10th leading cause of death for all ages. "This is definitely harrowing: The overall massiveness of the increase is to me the biggest shocker--the fact that it touched pretty much every group," said Katherine A. Hempstead, who recently published an analysis of U.S. suicide trends in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. (Healy, 4/21)

There is one age group that really stands out — girls between the ages of 10 and 14. Though they make up a very small portion of the total suicides, the rate in that group jumped the most — it experienced the largest percent increase, tripling over the last 15 years from 0.5 to 1.7 per 100,000 people. And, Curtin points out, in any given year, there are a lot more suicide attempts than there are suicide deaths. "The deaths are but the tip of the iceberg," she says. (Bichell, 4/22)