Deaths By Suicide and Firearms Are Rising Sharply Among Kids
Source: Time
By JAMIE DUCHARME 12:01 AM EDT
After years of progress, deaths by suicide, homicide and other means of injury are way up among kids, according to new data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The overall death rate for children between ages 10 and 19 fell by 33% between 1999 and 2013. But from 2013 to 2016, the report says, it crept back up by 12% — in large part because of a sizable increase in injury deaths, a category that includes deaths by suicide, homicide and unintentional injuries or accidents.
A total of 9,716 kids died by injury in 2016, a 17% increase over 2013, the report says. Unintentional injuries, such as those caused by car accidents, accounted for the largest number of child deaths (4,999 in 2016), but saw the smallest increase: After a 49% decline from 1999 to 2013, these types of deaths rose by 13% from 2013 to 2016.
Meanwhile, fewer children died by suicide (2,553) or homicide (1,963) than by accidental injuries in 2016, but rates of both rose sharply during the study time period. Suicide rates, which dropped by 15% from 1999 to 2007, rose by 56% between 2007 and 2016. Homicide rates, which decreased by 35% between 2007 and 2014, climbed by 27% from 2014 to 2016.
Read more: http://time.com/5296967/kids-injury-deaths-suicide/