Annual Average Emergency Visit Rate for Suicidal Ideation 40 Visits Per 10,000

Emergency department visit rate higher among males than females; peaked at age 35 to 44 years in males and at 14 to 18 years in females

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, April 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The annual average emergency department visit rate for suicidal ideation was 40 visits per 10,000 people in 2016 to 2020, according to an April data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

Alexander Strashny, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues used data from the 2016 to 2020 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to describe the annual average emergency department visit rate per 10,000 people for patients with suicidal ideation.

The researchers found that the annual emergency department visit rate for suicidal ideation was 40 visits per 10,000 people in 2016 to 2020. The emergency department visit rate was higher among males than females (46 versus 34 per 10,000, respectively). The visit rate for suicidal ideation was highest among males in the age group 35 to 44 years and among females in the age group 14 to 18 years (97 and 128 per 10,000 people, respectively). The visit rate was highest for non-Hispanic Blacks of all the race and ethnicity groups analyzed (68 per 10,000). In the Northwest, the emergency department visit rate for suicidal ideation was lowest.

“Across the lifespan, suicidal ideation was higher in males than females,” the authors write. “For males, suicidal ideation increased with age, peaked in midlife (ages 35 to 44), then decreased. For females, suicidal ideation peaked for teenagers, then declined with age.”