4 ms·

3 out of every 5 of these deaths were caused by overdose. This seems to be conflating two very different phenomena.

DanBC 10y ago
Self poisoning is a common method of suicide, especially in women. http://lostallhope.com/suicide-statistics/us-methods-suicide http://lostallhope.com/suicide-statistics/us-methods-suicide I think the CDC is careful to distinguish between suicide and accidental overdose.
- stuckagain 10y ago
  Yes but this says specifically suicides and unintended overdose.
- fullshark 10y ago
  Well yes but the article includes accidental overdose > “Maternal Deaths from Suicide and Overdose in Colorado, 2004-2012,” found that of 211 maternal deaths, 30 percent were from self-harm, defined as suicide and nonintentional overdose deaths occurring during pregnancy and the first year after giving birth.
  - DanBC 10y ago
    But this is a problem of definition. Not including those deaths isn't any more accurate, it just under-counts suicide deaths. How do we know those were non-intentional? Coroners (for a variety of reasons) are cautious about declaring a death as suicide, and so there will be a number of suicides in the non-intentional overdose deaths. The article is at least being clear on what it's counting as suicide, and that definition is close to some other well respected sources. For example, the UK's Office for National Statistics used this: "includes deaths from intentional self-harm (where a coroner has given a suicide conclusion or made it clear in the narrative conclusion that the deceased intended to kill themselves) and events of undetermined intent (mainly deaths where a coroner has given an open conclusion) in people aged 15 and over." but now uses this: "The National Statistics definition of suicide includes all deaths from intentional self-harm for persons aged 10 and over, and deaths where the intent was undetermined for those aged 15 and over. This definition was revised in January 2016 and further information on the impact can be found in the 2014 suicide registrations bulletin." You either under count, or over count, death by suicide. Since suicide is under reported by coroners, and it's a leading cause of preventable death, it makes some sense to over count it. The UK uses different counts for people under 15 because homicide is more likely than suicide in that age group.
    - fullshark 10y ago
      Don't have a good answer but I believe drug abuse is on the rise so if drug abuse is rising (and not due to increased desire to self-harm) then this statistic would increase as well, and the phenomena would be conflated. Given there's so much ink being spilled about the drug abuse increase in America, OPs statement makes sense to me and unless they are separated (again we are talking about under 200 data points) I think it's tough to say self-harm is explicitly on the rise.

DanBC 10y ago

Self poisoning is a common method of suicide, especially in women. http://lostallhope.com/suicide-statistics/us-methods-suicide http://lostallhope.com/suicide-statistics/us-methods-suicide I think the CDC is careful to distinguish between suicide and accidental overdose.

stuckagain 10y ago
Yes but this says specifically suicides and unintended overdose.
fullshark 10y ago
Well yes but the article includes accidental overdose > “Maternal Deaths from Suicide and Overdose in Colorado, 2004-2012,” found that of 211 maternal deaths, 30 percent were from self-harm, defined as suicide and nonintentional overdose deaths occurring during pregnancy and the first year after giving birth.
- DanBC 10y ago
  But this is a problem of definition. Not including those deaths isn't any more accurate, it just under-counts suicide deaths. How do we know those were non-intentional? Coroners (for a variety of reasons) are cautious about declaring a death as suicide, and so there will be a number of suicides in the non-intentional overdose deaths. The article is at least being clear on what it's counting as suicide, and that definition is close to some other well respected sources. For example, the UK's Office for National Statistics used this: "includes deaths from intentional self-harm (where a coroner has given a suicide conclusion or made it clear in the narrative conclusion that the deceased intended to kill themselves) and events of undetermined intent (mainly deaths where a coroner has given an open conclusion) in people aged 15 and over." but now uses this: "The National Statistics definition of suicide includes all deaths from intentional self-harm for persons aged 10 and over, and deaths where the intent was undetermined for those aged 15 and over. This definition was revised in January 2016 and further information on the impact can be found in the 2014 suicide registrations bulletin." You either under count, or over count, death by suicide. Since suicide is under reported by coroners, and it's a leading cause of preventable death, it makes some sense to over count it. The UK uses different counts for people under 15 because homicide is more likely than suicide in that age group.
  - fullshark 10y ago
    Don't have a good answer but I believe drug abuse is on the rise so if drug abuse is rising (and not due to increased desire to self-harm) then this statistic would increase as well, and the phenomena would be conflated. Given there's so much ink being spilled about the drug abuse increase in America, OPs statement makes sense to me and unless they are separated (again we are talking about under 200 data points) I think it's tough to say self-harm is explicitly on the rise.