James Donaldson on Mental Health - Understanding the rising suicide risk among Black youth

by Nationwide Children's Hospital edited by Stephanie Baum , reviewed by Andrew Zinin Suicide rates among Black youth have risen sharply in recent years, surpassing those of other racial and ethnic groups.

In 2023, it was the third leading cause of death for Black youth aged 10–24 years.

However, research examining factors contributing to suicide in this population remains limited.

A study published in JAMA Network Open and led by Cynthia Fontanella, Ph.D., principal investigator for the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital, is the first large-scale study to examine multi-level risk and protective factors for suicide among Medicaid-enrolled Black youth with a lifetime mental health diagnosis.

"We focused on a Medicaid population because Black youth are disproportionately covered by Medicaid compared to other child populations," says Dr.

"They often face social and economic challenges that impact both health and health care navigation.

This study allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of intragroup patterns with the hope of more targeted suicide prevention strategies." The study included 875 Black youth aged 9–24 years who died by suicide between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019.

Each suicide case was matched with 10 living controls (8,750 individuals) on age, sex and state.

There was a total of 9,625 individuals, with 6,950 of them being males.

All cases and controls were Medicaid-enrolled and had a documented lifetime mental health diagnosis.