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About 40 Percent of U.S. Adults Report Knowing Someone Who Died by Suicide

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 22, 2025.

MONDAY, April 21, 2025 -- More than 40 percent of U.S. adults know someone who died by suicide, according to research published in the April 10 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Bhavna Singichetti, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues approximated nationally representative estimates of suicide prevalence for U.S. adults using data from the second round of the National Center for Health Statistics Rapid Surveys System, an online survey of 7,046 adults.

The researchers found that 5.3 percent of U.S. adults reported suicidal thoughts during the previous 12 months. Persons aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 44 years and those with lower household income had a higher prevalence of suicidal thoughts. There was variation by sexual orientation, with the highest prevalence observed among bisexual persons. A total of 42.4 percent of adults reported knowing someone who had died by suicide; persons aged 45 years and older, non-Hispanic White persons, veterans, persons with at least some college education, and nonmetropolitan residents exhibited higher percentages. More than half of those who reported suicidal thoughts reported knowing someone who died by suicide compared with less than half among those who did not report suicidal thoughts (57.9 versus 41.6 percent).

"Identifying and supporting persons at risk for suicide, providing postvention support after a suicide occurs (i.e., activities that promote healing among survivors), and promoting safe messaging, which emphasizes that suicide is preventable, can be effective strategies and approaches in reducing suicide and future suicide risk," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted April 2025

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