Suicide Rates in Relation to Health Care Access in the United States: an Ecological Study

This study tested the hypothesis that suicide rates in the United States are associated with indicators of access to health care services. An ecological study compared age-adjusted suicide rates for men & women with demographic, socioeconomic, & other indices of access to health care by state. In multivariate models of associations, the state rate of federal aid for mental health was the strongest indicator, followed by the rates of uninsured persons & population density of psychiatrists & physicians, & by population density.(76 refs)