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发帖数: 29846 | 1 More Americans now commit suicide than are killed in car crashes as
miserable economy takes its toll
Deaths from suicide up 15pc with fears more deaths go unaccounted
$56m suicide prevention plan being rolled out after shocking statistics
Harsher penalties for drink driving credited with reducing road deaths
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 10:03 EST, 22 September 2012
Suicide is the cause of more deaths than car crashes, according to an
alarming new study.
The number of people who commit suicide in the U.S. has drastically
increased while deaths from car accidents have dropped, making suicide the
leading cause of injury death.
Suicides via falls or poisoning have risen significantly and experts fear
that there could be many more unaccounted for, particularly in cases of
overdose.
Shocking trend: While the number of Americans killed in car crashes has
declined over the last decade, the suicide rate has increased
Shocking trend: While the number of Americans killed in car crashes has
declined over the last decade, the suicide rate has increased
'Suicides are terribly under-counted,' said Ian Rockett, author of the study
, published on Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health.
'I think the problem is much worse than official data would lead us to
believe. We have a situation that has gotten out of hand.'
He added that his goal is to see the same attention paid to other injuries
as has been paid to reducing the number of deaths in traffic accidents.
The results were compiled using National Center for Health Statistics data
gathered from 2000 to 2009.
Researchers noted a 25 per cent decrease in fatal car accidents,
medicalxpress.com reported, while deaths from falls rose 71 per cent,
poisoning 128 per cent and from suicide 15 per cent.
Cause: Former senator Gordon Smith launched a suicide prevention program
after his son took his own life
Cause: Former senator Gordon Smith launched a suicide prevention program
after his son took his own life
Higher automobile standards were credited for the decrease in deaths on the
road, with harsher penalties for underage drinking and failing to wear seat
belts named as contributing factors.
Previous research has suggested that suicide rates go up during recessions
and times of economic crisis.
'Economic problems can impact how people feel about themselves and their
futures as well as their relationships with family and friends,' Feijun Luo
of CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention told Bloomberg.
'Prevention strategies can focus on individuals, families, neighborhoods or
entire communities to reduce risk factors.'
Suicide is now the most frequent cause of injury deaths, followed by car
crashes, poisoning, falls and murder.
The study also looked at gender and race, concluding that fewer women died
from the four main causes than men.
Hispanics were discovered to have fewer car crashes and suicides than whites
but a higher murder rate.
In 2009, more than 37,000 Americans took their own lives, a number that the
government and private groups such as Facebook are fighting to lower.
A suicide prevention program is being launched under the Garrett Lee Smith
Memorial Act, backed by $56million of federal money.
The Act was signed by George Bush in 2004, in memory of suicide-victim
Garrett, son of former U.S. Senator Gordon Smith.
Speaking at a September 10 news conference, Mr Smith said: 'Our goal is, in
the next five years, we will save 20,000 human lives.
'This issue touches nearly every family. It is something we can do something
about. It's the work of angels.'
Lanny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology,
said while much is known about how to prevent suicides there are 'centuries
of stigmatic attitudes' that need to be overcome.
'Both global and national increases in the number and rate of suicides
should concern all of us,' he added, pushing for a 'collaborative effort to
turn these many lives from despair and hopelessness to ones of meaning and
brighter futures'. | P*********0
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