Number of children in US going to the ER for suicidal thoughts and attempts has doubled

The number of children and teens in the US who visited the ER for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts doubled between 2007 and 2015, according to new analysis.

Researchers used data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, administered every year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From a sample of 300 emergency rooms, researchers tracked the number of children, aged 5 to 18, who had received a diagnosis of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts each year between 2007 and 2015. Diagnosis of either condition increased from 580,000 cases in 2007 to 1.12 million in 2015, according to the study. The average age of children at the time of evaluation was 13, and 43% of the children were between the age of 5 and 11.

 

 

Photo: “Mystery” by Giles Cook is licensed under CC BY 2.0