Year: 2019 Source: New England Journal of Medicine. (2019), 380, 71-79 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1802148 SIEC No: 20190065

In the United States, deaths due to suicide and unintentional overdose pose a major, and growing, public health concern. The combined number of deaths among Americans from suicide and unintentional overdose increased from 41,364 in 2000 to 110,749 in 2017 and has exceeded the number of deaths from diabetes since 2010.1 The increase represents more than a doubling in the age-adjusted rate of deaths from suicide and unintentional overdose (Table 1), according to data from national surveillance systems.2 Accordingly, both suicide and unintentional overdose have been the focus of large-scale prevention efforts, such as the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention3 and the State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis grant program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.