Study: Firearms lead to higher suicide rates in rural areas

Suicide rates are higher in rural counties, according to a new study, and the reason is firearm use by men (Source: “Guns Play Oversize Role in Rural Suicides,” New York Times, Aug. 8, 2017).

The American Journal of Public Health report, using data on 6,196 suicides of Maryland residents over age 15, found that the rate of firearm suicides was 66 percent higher in the most thinly populated counties than in metropolitan areas with populations greater than a million. Non-firearm suicide rates in rural and urban counties were roughly the same.

Rates of firearm suicide by women were no different in rural and urban areas, but total suicides by women were 37 percent greater in urban areas.