Suicide Rate Up Among Middle Aged US Adults: Study

By Staff Reporter - 02 Mar '15 13:38PM

Suicide rates among adults ages 40-64 have increased about 40 percent since 1999, with a sharp rise since 2007, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.

In the study, researchers Katherine A. Hempstead and Julie A. Phillips found that the suicide rate among middle-aged men and women has increased since 1999, which a sharp increase after 2007, just as the recession hit.

Since 1999, the rate increase has been around 40 percent among adults aged 40 and 64. In the year 2005, there were around 32.9 percent suicide cases reported. And because of the external economic factors, it raised to 37.5 percent completed suicides in 2010.

"Evidence suggests that the downturn disproportionately affected the middle-aged in terms of house values, household finances, and hits to retirement accounts," the study said. "... The hardship and feelings of failure or hopelessness associated with these conditions are compounded by the fact that middle-aged adults are more likely than others to be family breadwinners and supporting dependents."

"The sharpest increase in external circumstances appears to be temporarily related to the worst years of the Great Recession, consistent with other work showing a link between deteriorating economic conditions and suicide. ... Financial difficulties related to the loss of retirement savings in the stock market crash may explain some of this trend," Hempstead added further.

For this study, the researchers compiled data from a death surveillance database, the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). This database compile suicide cases and then examined it to understand how to prevent suicides.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention chief medical officer Dr. Christine Moutier said, "That middle-aged population, there is a lot more riding on their ability to have an income. They're that sandwiched generation, having fiscal responsibilities for both sides, the younger and the older, their children and their parents."

"When somebody is facing termination from their job, that would be a key time to understand those individuals may be at risk for suicide," Moutier added.