[M T]

Sorry for dredging up this topic we'd probably like to avoid thinking of, but the JAMA Medical News had a short article that I thought was relevant...

College Athlete Deaths by Suicide Have Doubled, and Researchers Want to Know Why

I'm not sure if the article is behind a paywall, so here's some notable findings/comments:

A recent study found that suicide is a growing cause of death among US collegiate athletes. Between 2002 and 2022, 1102 college athletes died overall and 128, or 11.5%, of these fatalities were identified as death by suicide. While the overall mortality for this population remained relatively stable during this 20-year period, the proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from just over 7.5% in the first decade, when 40 suicides occurred, to just over 15% in the second decade, when 88 occurred.

Meanwhile, other causes of death declined among college athletes during the same time frame. The study identified suicide as the second leading cause of death for student athletes after accidents in the second decade, supplanting cardiac arrests....

Whelan and her colleagues found that the overall incidence of death by suicide significantly varied by division, with higher rates for Division I and II athletes than Division III. Male athletes were involved 77% of the time, and their number of deaths by suicide increased from 31 in the first decade to 67 in the second. Deaths by suicide among female athletes increased from 9 to 21 between the first and second decade.
...
Deaths by suicide are on the rise. More than 49 000 people in the US died by suicide in 2022, a startling 36% increase from 2000. A separate NCAA database analysis also found that the rate of suicide among collegiate athletes appears to be lower than that of college students in general as well as the overall US population of a similar age.

There is a lot more discussion specifically about athletics, but it is mostly (perhaps well-founded) speculation (including discussing aspects of NIL, which of course affected only a small portion of the 2013-2022 time frame).

From the quoted study:

Of 1102 total deaths, 128 (11.6%) deaths by suicide were reported (male n=98, female n=30). The overall incidence was 1:71 145 athlete-years (AYs). Over the last decade, suicide was the second most common cause of death after accidents. The proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from the first 10 years (7.6%) to the second 10 years (15.3%). The suicide incidence rate for males increased linearly (5-year incidence rate ratio 1.32 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.53)), whereas a quadratic association was identified among female athletes (p=0.002), with the incidence rate reaching its lowest point in females in 2010–2011 and increasing thereafter. Male cross-country athletes had the highest suicide incidence rate (1:29 815 AYs) and Division I and II athletes had a higher suicide incidence rate than Division III athletes. No significant differences in suicide incidence rates by sex, race or sport were identified.

[M T]

Sorry for dredging up this topic we'd probably like to avoid thinking of, but the JAMA Medical News had a short article that I thought was relevant...

College Athlete Deaths by Suicide Have Doubled, and Researchers Want to Know Why

I'm not sure if the article is behind a paywall, so here's some notable findings/comments:

A recent study found that suicide is a growing cause of death among US collegiate athletes. Between 2002 and 2022, 1102 college athletes died overall and 128, or 11.5%, of these fatalities were identified as death by suicide. While the overall mortality for this population remained relatively stable during this 20-year period, the proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from just over 7.5% in the first decade, when 40 suicides occurred, to just over 15% in the second decade, when 88 occurred.

Meanwhile, other causes of death declined among college athletes during the same time frame. The study identified suicide as the second leading cause of death for student athletes after accidents in the second decade, supplanting cardiac arrests....

Whelan and her colleagues found that the overall incidence of death by suicide significantly varied by division, with higher rates for Division I and II athletes than Division III. Male athletes were involved 77% of the time, and their number of deaths by suicide increased from 31 in the first decade to 67 in the second. Deaths by suicide among female athletes increased from 9 to 21 between the first and second decade.
...
Deaths by suicide are on the rise. More than 49 000 people in the US died by suicide in 2022, a startling 36% increase from 2000. A separate NCAA database analysis also found that the rate of suicide among collegiate athletes appears to be lower than that of college students in general as well as the overall US population of a similar age.

There is a lot more discussion specifically about athletics, but it is mostly (perhaps well-founded) speculation (including discussing aspects of NIL, which of course affected only a small portion of the 2013-2022 time frame).

From the quoted study:

Of 1102 total deaths, 128 (11.6%) deaths by suicide were reported (male n=98, female n=30). The overall incidence was 1:71 145 athlete-years (AYs). Over the last decade, suicide was the second most common cause of death after accidents. The proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from the first 10 years (7.6%) to the second 10 years (15.3%). The suicide incidence rate for males increased linearly (5-year incidence rate ratio 1.32 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.53)), whereas a quadratic association was identified among female athletes (p=0.002), with the incidence rate reaching its lowest point in females in 2010–2011 and increasing thereafter. Male cross-country athletes had the highest suicide incidence rate (1:29 815 AYs) and Division I and II athletes had a higher suicide incidence rate than Division III athletes. No significant differences in suicide incidence rates by sex, race or sport were identified.