CDC: 64.1 Percent of Violent Deaths in 2019 Were Suicides

FRIDAY, May 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) — In 2019, most violent deaths were suicides, which occurred more often in males than females, according to research published in the May 20 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Rebecca F. Wilson, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed data from the CDC National Violent Death Reporting System for 50,374 fatal incidents involving 51,627 violent deaths that occurred in 42 states and the District of Columbia in 2019.

The researchers found that 64.1 percent of the deaths were suicides, followed by 25.1, 8.7, 1.4, and <1.0 percent that were homicides, deaths of undetermined intent, legal intervention deaths, and unintentional firearm deaths, respectively. The suicide rate was higher for males than females and was highest among adults aged 45 to 54 years. Among all racial and ethnic groups, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) and non-Hispanic White persons had the highest suicide rates. The most common method of injury for suicide was a firearm among males and poisoning among females. The homicide rate was higher for males than females, and it was highest among those aged 20 to 24 years and for non-Hispanic Black males. The most common method of injury was a firearm among homicide victims. Nearly all victims of legal intervention deaths were male; the highest death rate was in men aged 25 to 29 years and in AI/AN and Black males.

“Monitoring the prevalence of violence-related fatal injuries, defining priorities, and guiding violence prevention activities are essential parts of public health surveillance,” the authors write.