Broad print media, wire source, and medical website coverage was given to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that ranked suicide as the tenth-leading cause of deaths in the US. Of the major television networks, only CBS Evening News covered the story on the air, devoting two minutes and 35 seconds to the topic. CBS News, ABC News and NBC News all carry the story on their websites. According to the report, increases in suicide rates appear to be driven by middle-aged adults, a group disproportionately affected by the economic downturn.
The CBS Evening News (5/2, story 9, 2:35, Pelley, 5.58M) reported, "The Centers for Disease Control said suicides are now the tenth-leading cause of death in this country. In 2010, more than 38,000 Americans took their own lives and that is nearly 5,000 more than died in traffic accidents."
On its front page, the New York Times (5/3, A1, Parker-Pope, Subscription Publication, 1.68M) reports, "Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm," according to findings published in the May 3 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The Wall Street Journal (5/3, A3, Martin, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports that the age group primarily responsible for the increase in suicide rates is that of middle-aged adults aged 35 to 64, the report found.
The Los Angeles Times (5/3, Brown, 692K) "Science Now" blog reports, "The greatest increases occurred in people 50 to 54 years old (up 48%) and among people 55 to 59 years old (up 49%). Among men, suicides in middle-aged people rose 27.3%; among women, 31.5%." Notably, "whites and Native Americans had steeper increases than other demographic groups."
According to Bloomberg News (5/3, Armstrong), "the increase in middle-age suicides puts a new focus on that group, as opposed to young or old people who typically have been seen as higher risk," the report noted. Bloomberg News also played up the pressures the economy is placing on middle-aged people, quoting a CDC official. "'The suicide rate started accelerating in 2008, 2009 and 2010 - someone might still be working, but their house is underwater, or they're working but they're working part-time,' Eric Caine, the director of the CDC's Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention, said."
The AP (5/3, Stobbe) reports that suicide "rates in younger and older people held steady. And there was little change among middle-aged blacks, Hispanics and most other racial and ethnic groups, the report" revealed.
On its website, CBS News (5/3, LaPook) points out, "Psychologist Kelly Posner from Columbia University Medical Center says suicide has become a public health crisis. 'We've had recent economic downturns, the war is winding down, so we're seeing a lot more of an increase in veterans, who have 21 suicides per day,' Posner says." In addition, the report "noted a rise in intentional overdoses, associated with widespread access to prescription painkillers." Taking all of these factors into consideration, Posner urged physicians to become more active in screening people for depression and suicidality.
Also covering the story are the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (5/3, Perlberg, 196K), the Minneapolis Star Tribune (5/3, Stoxen, 335K) "HealthCheck" blog, the New York Daily News (5/3, Dominguez, 543K), Reuters (5/3, Abrahamian), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel(5/3, Herzog, 221K), The Hill (5/3, Viebeck, 21K) "Healthwatch" blog, the CBS News (5/3, Jaslow) website, the NBC News (5/3, Fox) "Vitals" blog, the NPR (5/3, Hensley) "Shots" blog, MyHealthNewsDaily (5/2, Rettner), HealthDay (5/3, Reinberg), MedPage Today (5/3, Smith), and Medscape (5/3, Cassels).
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