ANCHORAGE — A new state study shows the suicide rate in Alaska has increased in recent years.<\/p>\n
There was a 13 percent increase in suicides between 2012 and 2017 compared to a similar period from 2007 to 2011, Alaska Public Media reported.<\/p>\n
Suicide was the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 64, according to the analysis by state health officials.<\/p>\n
The rates were highest in northern and southwestern communities. The largest increase, however, was along the state’s Railbelt.<\/p>\n
Also seeing a significant increase was the area covering Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The region had a 61 percent hike in suicides, compared to the earlier period.<\/p>\n
Deborah Hull-Jilly, a state epidemiologist who worked on the report, is also starting a yearlong project with other researchers to determine why suicides have increased after several years of declines.<\/p>\n
A separate document accompanying the report outlined toxicology results following suicides since 2015. Those tests showed 70 percent involved one or more substances, most frequently alcohol.<\/p>\n
“That is a question that we’re going to have to answer: Are we seeing substance misuse impacting persons that are already at-risk for self-harm?” Hull-Jilly said.<\/p>\n
Additional data on the role drugs and alcohol play in suicides could help health providers offer better treatments, Hull-Jilly said. She believes toxicology results could be a prevention strategy tool.<\/p>\n
“We need to track those a little bit better so that we can understand how these drugs might be influencing people who are either contemplating self-harm, or something is occurring in their lives and it’s a very impulsive act,” she said.<\/p>\n
\u2022 This is an Associated Press report.<\/b><\/p>\n
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