Increasing suicide rates in early adolescent girls in the United States and the equalization of sex disparity in suicide: The need to investigate the role of social media

In the context of increasing rates of suicide in US youth, a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1 revealed that the largest percentage increases in the rates of suicide occurred in girls aged 10 to 14 years. In an unprecedented escalation, rates of suicide in this subgroup tripled between 1999 and 2014. Building on these findings, Ruch et al2 sought to investigate whether the known sex disparity in suicide, with boys being more likely to commit suicide than girls, was also changing. Using the Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiological Research (WONDER) database and applying incidence rate ratios and binomial regressions, the authors found a significant decrease in the male to female suicide ratio, suggesting that the historical sex disparity is equalizing. The authors underscore the implications of these findings for clinical risk detection and public health policy.q