Skip Navigation LinksSkip Navigation Links
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Safer Healthier People
Blue White
Blue White
bottom curve
CDC Home Search Health Topics A-Z spacer spacer
spacer
Blue curve MMWR spacer
spacer
spacer

Persons using assistive technology might not be able to fully access information in this file. For assistance, please send e-mail to: mmwrq@cdc.gov. Type 508 Accommodation and the title of the report in the subject line of e-mail.

Notice to Readers: World Suicide Prevention Day

September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. Suicide was the 11th overall leading cause of death in the United States in 2003 (the most recent year for which final death data are available) and was responsible for 31,484 deaths (1), which equates to one suicide every 17 minutes. In addition, suicide attempts and other acts of self-harm that result in nonfatal injuries affect the health of many persons and families. In 2004 (the most recent year for which final ambulatory hospital data are available), approximately 535,000 visits to U.S. emergency departments were made after attempted suicides or because of other self-inflicted injuries (2).

Reducing the overall suicide rate of the population and the number of suicide attempts among adolescents are two of the 2010 national health objectives (objectives 18-1 and 18-2, respectively) (3). Integrated prevention strategies that address multiple relevant topics (e.g., substance-abuse prevention, family and peer support, and access to health services) are likely to be more effective in reducing suicidal behavior than programs that focus on a single factor (4). Additional information about suicide prevention is available from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at http://www.cdc.gov/injury. Additional information about World Suicide Prevention Day is available at http://www.med.uio.no/iasp.

References

  1. Hoyert DL, Heron MP, Murphy SL, Kung H. Deaths: final data for 2003. Natl Vital Stat Rep 2006;54(13).
  2. McCaig LF, Nawar EN. National hospital ambulatory medical care survey: 2004 emergency department summary. Advance data from vital and health statistics; no 372. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2006.
  3. US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy people 2010, 2nd ed. With understanding and improving health and objectives for improving health. 2 vols. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office; 2000.
  4. Goldsmith SK, Pellmar TC, Kleinman AM, Bunney WE, eds. Reducing suicide: a national imperative. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2002.

Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of the date of publication.

Disclaimer   All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.

**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.

Date last reviewed: 9/7/2006

HOME  |  ABOUT MMWR  |  MMWR SEARCH  |  DOWNLOADS  |  RSSCONTACT
POLICY  |  DISCLAIMER  |  ACCESSIBILITY

Safer, Healthier People

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd, MailStop E-90, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A

USA.GovDHHS

Department of Health
and Human Services