Suicide Rates Increasing Among Black Children

New findings published in JAMA Pediatrics shows that suicide rates are up among black children under the age of 12, according to findings presented by The research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus Ohio.

"When I initially looked at the results I thought we had made a mistake in the analyses because historically white youth in the United States have had higher suicide rates than black youth," said lead study author Jeffrey A. Bridge of the institute, via Reuters Health.

For the study, researchers examined U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) records on suicide among kids from five to 11 years old between 1993 and 2012.

A total of 657 children died by suicide during that time, with an average of 33 per year according to the researchers. About 84 percent of the deaths occurred among boys, with hanging and suffocation being the most common method.

Furthermore, researchers found that suicide rate seemed to grow among black boy children, at about 1.8 to 3.5 for every million children, according to Reuters.

Among white children, the number declined from about 2 to 1.3 suicides per million in the last 20 years.

Though suicide rates among younger children are relatively rare, studies like these show that they do happen.

However, some researchers also cautioned that the latest findings did not examined trends in subgroups, according to Medical News Today. For instance, suicide by poisoning was not examined, nor were they able to analyzed changes over time in methods used by young girls as the rates of female deaths were too low to properly calculate.

Researchers believe that a number of factors may contribute to the issues, including a lower likelihood of asking for medical assistance for depression or suicidal thoughts, early onset of puberty or some unclear issues.

More studies will be needed however to better determine the complexity of the problem. 

More information regarding the findings can be seen via this article and via JAMA Pediatrics.