{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,1]],"date-time":"2026-11-01T06:11:38Z","timestamp":1793513498417,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":63,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]],"date-time":"2022-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1668643200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background and aims<\/jats:title><jats:p>The U.S. suicide data show that use of lethal methods, specifically firearms and hanging\/suffocation, has been increasing among young and middle-aged adults of both sexes over the past decades. In this study, we examined demographic and clinical correlates of use of firearms, hanging\/suffocation, and poisoning as suicide methods among suicide decedents age 18+.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Data came from the 2017-2019 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS; <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic> = 94,454, age \u2265 18 at the time of suicide; 74,042 men and 20,412 women). We fit generalized linear models (GLMs) for a Poisson distribution with a log link to examine (1) changes in four suicide methods (firearms, hanging\/suffocation, poisoning, and other) during the study period, controlling for sex and age group; and (2) correlates of firearms, hanging\/suffocation, and poisoning use.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>In all age groups, 55% of men and 30% of women used firearms; 28% of men and 29% of women hanging\/suffocation; 9% of men and 32% of women poisoning, and 8% of men and 9% of women \u201cother\u201d methods. Men age &amp;lt; 45 had higher likelihood of firearm and\/or hanging\/suffocation use than those age 45\u201364. Women age&amp;lt;45 also had higher likelihood of hanging\/suffocation than those age 45\u201364. Prior suicide attempt history was associated with higher likelihood of poisoning in both sexes and hanging\/suffocation in men; mental disorders\/SUD were associated with higher likelihood of hanging\/suffocation and poisoning in both sexes; physical health problems were associated with higher likelihood poisoning in both sexes and firearm use in men; relationship problems were associated with higher likelihood of firearm use; legal problems and job\/financial\/housing problems were associated with higher likelihood of hanging\/suffocation in both sexes; and more crises were associated with higher likelihood of firearm use in both sexes.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>The findings call for the following suicide prevention strategies: (1) restricted access to firearms; (2) improved access to mental health\/substance use treatment; (3) improved long-term and palliative care services for those (mostly older adults) with physical health problems; (4) financial\/housing support policies to mitigate economic hardship; and (5) more research to identify effective strategies to curtail the increasing use of firearm and hanging\/suffocation among young and middle-aged adults.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.955008","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]],"date-time":"2022-11-17T05:29:41Z","timestamp":1668662981000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":37,"title":["Three leading suicide methods in the United States, 2017\u20132019: Associations with decedents' demographic and clinical characteristics"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Namkee G.","family":"Choi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C. 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