Suicide Rates Decline In Antidepressant Era

Suicide Rates Decline In Antidepressant Era

Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A09
Washington Post

Suicide rates among young people and senior citizens have fallen by at least 25 percent since the introduction of antidepressants such as Prozac but have declined much less in other age groups, a study found.

Suicides among people ages 15 to 24 have fallen 25 percent since 1988, and the rate among people over 65 fell 26 percent, according to a study published yesterday in the American Journal of Public Health. Suicides by people ages 25 to 64 fell less than 10 percent.

The study, which examined census data from 1970 to 2002 and mortality reports from the National Center for Health Statistics, found no clear overall trend before 1988.

Improved trauma care, mental health treatment and medical care for senior citizens may be factors, experts said. Seniors are more likely to kill themselves than people in any other age group.

"You look at people between 25 and 64, and you don't see the same kind of decline," said Robert E. McKeown, author of the study and a professor of epidemiology at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. "If these drugs really were the driving force, you would expect to see a decline there, too."