Monday, September 24, 2012

Suicide is Now the Leading Cause of Injury Mortality...

That's the attention-grabbing headline.  The phrase “injury mortality” distinguishes death from injury of any kind from death by disease of any kind.  Deaths by disease still greatly exceed deaths by injury.

Automobile accidents have long dominated injury mortality in the U.S., but these deaths have declined greatly over the past couple of decades as safer cars hit the road.  At the same time, suicide rates have increased gradually – partly due to easier access to drugs, partly for reasons not yet understood, and (more recently) partly because of the recession (suicides historically increase during financial hardship).  The reality isn't quite as dramatic as the headline, but it's still bad enough...

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