More Virginians kill themselves than
are murdered, and white people are more prone to suicide
while black people are more at risk for homicide, the
state medical examiner's office said Thursday.
The state edition of the National Violent Death Reporting
System report found that of 1,303 violent deaths in
Vir-ginia in 2004, about 63 percent were suicides and
about 29 percent were homicides. Just under 2 percent
of the deaths stemmed from unintentional gunshot injuries.
The cause of just under 6 percent of violent deaths
couldn't be determined, and nearly 1 percent of violent
deaths stemmed from legal intervention, such as a police
officer shooting a suspect.
"Suicide is more private; it's not on the pages
of your newspaper everyday," said Dr. Virginia
Powell, fatality re-view and surveillance manager at
the medical examiner's office. The report, she said,
confirms that suicide "remains the largest burden
of violent death" in Virginia under the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's classification
scheme.
Last year's report showed 1,332 violent deaths in
2003; 60 percent were suicides and 33 percent were
homicides.
The report uses data from forensic pathology, forensic
science, vital records and law-enforcement agencies.
Among those who committed suicide, 38 percent had been
diagnosed with depression and 37 percent were undergo-ing
mental-health treatment when they died, the report
said. Twenty-one percent had a substance-use problem,
primarily with alcohol, and 21 percent had a physical
health problem such as a terminal illness or chronic
pain.
Different factors prompt suicide in people of different
ages, Powell said.
"Intimate-partner problems are a characteristic
among the young," those 44-years-old and younger,
Powell said. "Physical health problems are just
incredible among the elderly as a factor in their decision
to complete a suicide."
One-fifth had disclosed their intent to commit suicide,
and 18 percent had a history of at least one attempt.
Firearms were the most common method of fatal injury;
a gun was used in 71 percent of homicides and 59 percent
of suicides, the report said.
The report also looked at Virginians' predisposition
to violent death: Whites are more at risk for suicide,
while black people are at a much higher risk to be
murdered than whites or Hispanics. Black males comprised
about 10 percent of Virginia's population in 2004,
but accounted for more than 51 percent of all homicide
victims, the report said.
Three out of four violent-death victims are male,
and suicide rates were highest among men 65 and older
especially high among men 75 and older. Southwest Virginia
had the highest suicide rates of any region of the
state, the report said.
About 24 percent of suicide victims older than 18
were veterans of the armed forces, and veterans made
up nearly 29 percent of all male suicide victims 18
and older.
Among all violent deaths, central Virginia had the
highest rates and northern Virginia had the lowest,
the report said. Richmond had the highest number of
violent deaths in the state in 2004, including 93 homicides
or 48 killings per 100,000 residents. That rate was
three times the rate of second-ranked Norfolk, which
had 15 homicides per 100,000 residents.
The Virginia Department of Health hopes the information
will allow it to better target its suicide-prevention
efforts. The department will focus especially on the
rural areas of Southside, the upper Shenandoah Valley
and the Northern Neck, which have suicide rates that
exceed the state average of about 11 per 100,000 people.
"We want to educate people on what are the causes
of suicide," Powell said. "If you work in
a mental health clinic or are a health care provider
you might want to think differently about your patients
or clients."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated
the National Violent Death Reporting System in Decem-ber
2001. Virginia was one of a handful of states to receive
initial federal funding and began its reporting system
in late 2003.
The system doesn't include data on court-ordered executions,
victims who died in Virginia but were out-of-state
resi-dents, and accidental deaths not caused by firearms.
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