Study: Black, Asian, Pacific Islander populations in U.S. see rise in suicides

May 26 (UPI) -- Suicide rates have increased among Black Americans and those of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, according to an analysis published Wednesday by JAMA Network Open.

Between 2014 and 2019, the most recent year with data available, suicide rates rose by 30% among Black people and by 16% among people of Asian and Pacific Island descent, the data showed.

Increases in these racial and ethnic groups occurred despite an overall decline in the suicide rate nationally since 2018, the researchers said.

"Examining suicide trends in subgroups is necessary to inform prevention efforts that reach everyone," the researchers, from the National Institutes of Health, wrote.

"Efforts are needed to mitigate suicide and its risk factors in population subgroups, which may include systemic and other factors that have placed increased stress on individuals who belong to racial or ethnic minority groups," they said.

The findings are based on an analysis of cause of death data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics System, a compendium of health and population figures.

The researchers analyzed trends in suicide nationally across different racial and ethnic groups between 1999 and 2019.

For the total U.S. population, the suicide rate dropped slightly, to 13.9 per 100,000 people in the general population in 2019 from 14.2 per 100,000 the year before.

After rising and falling over the first 15 years of the study period, the suicide rate among Black Americans has increased consistently since 2014, growing to 7.4 per 100,000 people in the general population in 2019 from 5.7 per 100,000 in 2014, the data showed.

Much of this increase was fueled by a rise in suicide among Black teens and young adults ages 15 to 24, which grew 47% in males and 59% in females during that six-year period.

Over the same period, the suicide rate among people of Asian and Pacific Island descent grew to 7.1 per 100,000 people in the general population from 6.1 per 100,000.

Similarly, suicide among teens and young adults of Asian and Pacific Island descent rose by more than 40% during this period.

Still, these rates remain lower than those for White people, which were 17.6 per 100,000 people in the general population in 2019.

Suicide rates among White teens and young adults -- 6.1 at per 100,000 people in the general population in 2019 -- are also higher than those of younger members of other racial and ethnic groups, the data showed.

"The increase in Black and Asian or Pacific Islander youth suicide rates [is] worrisome," the NIH researchers wrote.