Establishing Priorities for Reducing Suicide and its Antecedents in the United States

The authors compared age- & gender-specific mortality rates, age- & gender-specific estimates of years of potential life lost, & age- & gender-specific present value of lost earnings that individuals would have contributed to society had they lived to their full life expectancies. Men in the middle years of life contribute disproportionately to the public health burden because of completed suicide. The substantial burden evident in this group has not translated into a public health priority. (68 refs.)