Report: Suicide rates up in Ohio, U.S.

A federal report released last week found that Ohio’s suicide rate rose by 36 percent from 1999 to 2016 (Source: “Ohio, U.S. suicide rates jump since turn of century,” Columbus Dispatch, June 7, 2018).

The report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the U.S. suicide rate increased by 25.4 percent in that span: The nation had a rate of 15.4 suicides per 100,000 people in the 2014 to 2016 period, compared with a 12.3 rate in the 1999 to 2001 period.

Ohio’s increase was the 19th-highest among the states. Its rate of 15.8 deaths per 100,000 people was the 32nd-highest. The numbers, which included people 10 and older, came as no surprise to state mental-health officials.

“We’re not shocked by them, but we are a bit disheartened by them,” said Dr. Mark Hurst of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. He said Ohio’s number of suicides had stabilized from 2011 to 2014 before rising in 2015 and again in 2016, to 1,706.