Communities with lower health insurance coverage, broadband internet access, and household income have higher rates of suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vital Signs Report released this week.
Nearly 50,000 Americans died by suicide in 2022. And provisional CDC data indicates a similar number of people died by suicide in 2023. There is a mental health crisis across the nation, and the CDC’s latest findings reinforce how social determinants of health can play a key role in suicide prevention efforts, noted researchers.
“Improving the conditions where people are born, grow, live, work, and age is an often overlooked aspect of suicide prevention,” said Alison Cammack, Ph.D., M.P.H., CDC health scientist and lead author of the report, in a statement. “Public health programs that improve conditions in communities, such as those funded by CDC’s Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Program, can help people avoid reaching a crisis point.”
To better understand how conditions in communities can influence lowering suicide risk, CDC researchers used federal data of people who have died by suicide and analyzed county-level factors including health insurance coverage, broadband internet access, and household income.
Here’s what they found:
- Counties with the highest health insurance coverage have 26 percent lower suicide rates.
- Households in counties where most homes have broadband internet access have 44 percent lower suicide rates.
- Suicide rates were 13 percent lower in counties with the most household income.
There are several potential reasons for each of these factors’ role in suicide prevention, explained the researchers. Health insurance can provide access to mental health services and crisis intervention; the internet helps people find jobs, social connection, and telehealth; and income allows people to meet basic needs, such as food and housing.
The researchers recommend a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention as outlined in the new 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the CDC’s Suicide Prevention Resource for Action, which focus on strategies to strengthen economic supports, improve access to and delivery of suicide care, promote healthy connections, teach coping and problem-solving skills, and create protective environments.