Worrisome Data About Youth Suicide

Youth suicides increase as SSRI prescriptions decrease, but concluding that the two are related is premature.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds. Although the rate decreased steadily from 1990 to 2003, the CDC now reports increased rates in 2004 among girls aged 10 to 14 (76% increase) and 15 to 19 (32% increase) and among boys aged 15 to 19 (9% increase). Rates increased significantly among the girls for suicide by hanging and suffocation and among the boys for all methods combined.

Any increase in suicide rate is cause for alarm, but an analysis of youth suicide suggests a worrisome association between the increase and a decline in SSRI prescriptions for children and adolescents after the FDA mandated a black box warning in 2003 (see JW Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Dec 13 2004). That warning required inform…

Reviewing Authors

Alain Joffe, MD, MPH, FAAP

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Alain Joffe, MD, MPH, FAAP

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Martin T. Stein, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardPearson Neuroscience Advisory Board

Speaker’s bureauAmerican Academy of Pediatrics

RoyaltiesElsevier, Inc.

Editorial boardsJournal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Martin T. Stein, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardPearson Neuroscience Advisory Board

Speaker’s bureauAmerican Academy of Pediatrics

RoyaltiesElsevier, Inc.

Editorial boardsJournal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics