Suicide among US girls increasing at alarming rate

Intensifying the furious debate over the safety of antidepressants in children and teens, a U.S. report Thursday said warnings about a possible link between antidepressants and an increased risk of suicidal behavior in kids may have led to more self-killings.

In a report, the federal health officials said that the rate among preteen and teenage U.S. girls has reached its highest level in a decade, as use of anti-depression drugs dropped significantly.

The report, based on the latest figures available, and released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suggests that suicides among children and young adults in the country between ages 10 to 24 rose 8 percent from 2003 to 2004, the largest annual increase in more than 15 years i.e. since 1990.

The recent report also mentioned a change in suicide method, saying that hanging has surpassed guns as the preferred method opted by Americans for self-killing. The suicide bump was particularly sharp among adolescents, especially girls. The authors of recent report stated that suicide among Americans ages 10 to 24 accounted for 4,599 deaths in 2004, making it the third-leading killer.

"Our news today is sobering and raises a great concern for us," Ileana Arias, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC, said during a teleconference Thursday. "Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 24, surpassed only by car crashes and homicides."

The suicide rates for these age groups however had fell 28 per cent from 1990 to 2003, but in 2004 it shot back up, driven largely by increases among girls aged 10 to 19 and boys 15 to 19.

There was a 75.9 percent increase in the suicide rate among girls ages 10 to 14 between 2003 and 2004. The suicide accounted for 94 deaths in that age group in 2004 compared with 56 in 2003.

The suicide rate bump was 32.3 percent among 15- to 19-year-old girls, accounting for 355 deaths, compared with 265 a year earlier. The increase was 9 percent among 15- to 19-year-old boys in the same time period, 1,345 killed themselves in 2004, up from 1,222.

Stating about the methods opted by the American teens for self-killing, report said that hanging and suffocation are on the rise as a means of suicide among girls, accounting for half of all cases, while boys opted guns as the primary method for suicide. In 1990, guns accounted for more than half of all suicides among girls.

The latest report comes amidst the surging controversies over the use of anti-depressants. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued guidelines that the anti-depressant drugs may increase the risk of suicidal behavior in kids.

Contrary to health agency’s warnings, some earlier studies have suggested that the drugs do more good than harm.

In May, the American heath watchdog ordered drug makers to update existing black box warnings on their antidepressants, saying these medications need new warnings about increased risks of suicidal thoughts and behavior among young adults.

The US regulators asked the makers of 36 antidepressants to extend the existing black box warning to cover people ages 18 to 24 when they first use the drugs. The expanded warning would apply to adults during the first month or two of treatment with the drugs, the health agency said.

During initial treatment young adults on antidepressant medication face a substantial increased risk of experiencing suicidal tendencies (suicidal thinking and behaviour), the federal health regulator warned.

The recent annual report from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System, which records births, deaths, marriages and divorces, was published online in the weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report.