U.S. suicide rates have steadily declined for the last two decades, but only among the youngest and oldest Americans, according to a new study published Thursday. U.S. researchers at the University of South Carolina s school of public health reported that, despite widespread notions that depression and suicide have been increasing in the country, suicide have significantly decline for a select demographic. At the same time, because suicide rates for Americans between 25 and 64 have remained steady, the researchers say they do not understand the trend, and what may be causing it. Many people weren t aware they kept saying suicides were increasing when it was no longer true, said Dr. Robert McKeown, a professor and author of the study. For 40 years adolescent suicide rates rose. Then, the rates began to decline in the late 1980s for adults 65 and older and in the early 1990s for adolescents and young adults. The report, published in American Journal of Public Health, suggested that economic well-being may be behind the trend with a thriving economy and correspondingly lower unemployment rates during most of the mid- and late-nineties. Also during that time, millions of Americans began using antidepressants such as Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac. McKeown declined to say whether these drugs were responsible for lower suicide, because the mid-range of age groups showed no decline, though they are some of the highest users of such drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued warnings against the use of certain anti-depressants after British and American studies suggested the drugs may raise the risk of suicide in children and adults. The latest study would seem to contradict that claim, McKeown said.
