I know this is an example of cherry picking but it comes straight from the horse's, I mean CDC's press room. What does it say about the American lifestyle that so many children are dependent on anti depression drugs and must suicide to find a way out? I am sure you will find a way to refute it.
Youth Suicides Rise the Most in 15 Years, CDC Says (Update2)
By Michelle Fay Cortez
Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Suicides among children and young adults in the U.S. rose 8 percent in 2004, the largest single- year increase since 1990, as use of anti-depression drugs fell, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The biggest percentage jumps were recorded among girls aged 10 to 19 and boys aged 15 to 19, according to an analysis released by the agency today. Suicide accounted for 4,599 deaths in 2004, making it the third-leading killer among Americans ages 10 to 24, behind car crashes and homicides, the research found.
While the annual CDC report didn't identify the cause, a fall in prescriptions for anti-depressants like GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Paxil and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Prozac may have played a role, officials said. Regulators warned about ties between the drugs and suicidal thoughts in children starting in 2003 and asked for a stricter warning on the dosing information to highlight the danger in September 2004, sending 2005 sales down 20 percent.
``It's true that antidepressant prescriptions in pediatric patients have come down, and that coincides with this one year up tick in adolescent suicides,'' said Thomas Laughren, director of the Food and Drug Administration's division of psychiatry products, in a conference call today. The agency will monitor suicides and anti-depressant use ``and take whatever regulatory actions we think are appropriate,'' he said
Many Factors
Laughren and other public health officials said it's still not clear whether the drop in anti-depressant use was responsible for the increase, since so many factors play a role in suicides. It's also not yet known whether the increase is part of a larger trend or a one-year aberration, said Ileana Arias, director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
``Either way, it's a harsh reminder that suicide and suicide attempts are affecting too many youth and young adults,'' Arias said. ``It's sobering and raises a great concern for us,'' she said on the call with reporters.
The report found that hanging and suffocation are on the rise as a means of suicide among girls, accounting for half of all cases. The use of guns remained the primary method used by boys.
The suicide rate among Americans ages 10 through 24 had fallen 28 percent since 1990, making the current rise particularly concerning, health officials said.
The study, which tracks the latest available numbers, comes from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System, which records births, deaths, marriages and divorces. It was published on line in the weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report.
Prescription Trends
The number of new anti-depressant prescriptions written for children up to age 17 in the U.S. fell 22 percent from January 2003 through May 2007, according to Verispan LLC, a Yardley, Pennsylvania, research company. The most commonly used anti- depressants include Lilly's Cymbalta, Wyeth's Effexor, Glaxo's Wellbutrin and Forest Laboratories Inc.'s Lexapro.
Mark Riddle, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, said he thinks the declining use of anti-depressants is responsible. Some primary care and family physicians have stopped prescribing them completely for children because of the warnings and the legal concerns that accompany them, he said.
``It's probably reluctance on the part of clinicians to identify and treat kids with depression,'' Riddle said in a telephone interview. ``We know that any treatment for depression in teenagers is quite effective in reducing suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. When you take away one of the treatments, you are just leaving more kids vulnerable for trouble.''
Nationwide Increase
In 2004, 94 girls ages 10 to 14 killed themselves nationwide, up from 56 a year earlier, the report said. Among girls ages 15 to 19, there were 355 suicides, compared with 265 a year earlier. For boys aged 15 to 19, 1,345 killed themselves in 2004, up from 1,222.
The findings underscore the need to recognize warning signs of suicide in young people, including talking about it, feeling sad or hopeless about the future or changing patterns in eating and sleeping, said Keri Lubell, a behavioral scientist at the agency's Injury Center and one of the authors.
An earlier study by CDC researchers found many students in the U.S. regularly contemplate suicide.
In that survey, 17 percent of high school students said they ``seriously considered'' killing themselves in the previous 12 months, and 13 percent actually devised a suicide plan. Almost 1 in 10 said they actually tried to take their own life.
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