Data / Statistics
Suicide is a sensitive issue, but one that is of great concern to many American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Data suggest that suicide is a significant problem throughout Indian Country, particularly among Native youth, males, veterans, and elders. From 2000-2005, the average suicide death rate was highest among AI/AN youth aged 15-24 (at 18.7 cases per 100,000, compared to 10.7 per 100,000 for White youth and 7.1 for Black youth). Nationwide in 2005, suicide was the second leading cause of death for AI/AN youth in that age range.
The Portland Area has one of the higher suicide death rates for AI/AN among the IHS service areas. The IHS reported that, from 1996-1998, the age-adjusted suicide death rate for the Portland Area was 22.0 per 100,000, a rate that was exceeded only by Aberdeen, Alaska, Bemidji, and Tucson.
At the state level, annual suicide rates for AI/AN tend to fluctuate widely because the actual number of deaths each year is relatively small. In 2005, for example, 12 AI/AN suicides occurred in Washington, 3 took place in Oregon, and 5 in Idaho. While males typically complete suicide more often that women, studies suggest that women actually attempt suicide more frequently than men. This pattern is also present among AI/ANs in the Pacific Northwest.
Data on suicide risk factors and attempts, as opposed to mortality, are available from a variety of sources, including the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Data from these sources and other studies have found that several factors can put a person at higher risk for attempting suicide, including: - Previous suicide attempt(s) - History of depression - Alcohol or drug abuse - Family history of suicide or violence - Physical illness - Feeling alone. Additional research is needed to identify and explore the culturally unique factors that affect AI/ANs.
Sources:
- Suicide Epidemiologic Profile compiled by Dr. Thomas Weiser
- Injury Mortality Among American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Youth- United States, 1989-1998
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - violence prevention including suicide statistics
- Leading Causes of Death by Age Group, American Indian or Alaska Native Males- United States, 2004
- Injuries among Native Americans: Fact Sheet
- 10 Leading Causes of Death - American Indian and Alaskan Native (Both Sexes, Males or Females) 1995-97
- Indian Health Service (IHS) - Methods of Suicide Among Persons Aged 10-19 Years- United States, 1992-2001
Data Collection Tools:
- Oregon Native Youth Risk Survey
The Oregon Native Youth Survey (ONYS) is based upon the Oregon Healthy Teen survey (which is made up of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the Student Drug Use Survey), the Communities That Care (CTC) survey (developed by Hawkins and Catalano at UW Seattle), and the Voices of Indian Teens survey (Dr. Spero Manson, PI). Native American Rehabilitation Association (NARA), which has been using the survey tool, added a peer suicide knowledge section from the Lifelines PreTest Questionnaire and additional questions about protective factors based on the concept of resiliency. The survey was also reviewed for cultural appropriateness by a cultural advisory team at NARA-NW. NARA has been granted permission to use parts/all of these surveys and/or they are public domain.The second to last question (#108) is meant to be tailored to the particular Tribe or community it will be implemented in. The ONYS is also designed to be used along with focus groups for a better understanding of how the actual intervention activities are experienced by the youth. Folks are welcome to tweak and perfect (and share their tweaking with us, please!).
Please contact Tamara Perkins, of NPC Research, with any questions. NPC Research would be most interested in contracting with interested communities to work on implementation and analysis.
Tamara Perkins - - http://www.npcresearch.com - Washington State 2008 Healthy Youth Survey
Sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders were surveyed. The survey included questions about safety and violence, alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, physical activity and diet, and related risk and protective factors. - Resource and Patient Management System (RPMS)
RPMS is a computerized Health Information System that has been used by most Indian health care programs since the 1980s. RPMS is a comprehensive suite of packages with many outstanding features that are useful for the daily management of patients.Although RPMS has a vast amount of data on the health status of individual patients, a detailed analysis of its usefulness and accuracy for surveillance has not been done. The EpiCenter has recently been invited by the national IHS Epidemiology Program to enter into a contract to do such an analysis.
IHS’s suicide surveillance tool and measure, available through the RPMS
Information on IHS ‘s Suicide RPMS package
