Tennessee Suicide Rate Increases: Report

NASHVILLE, TN — Tennessee's suicide rate increased 13 percent in 2015, the most recent year figures are available, according to a new report from the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network.

Though suicide is the third-leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 19, people between the ages of 45 and 69 are three times as likely to commit suicide as young people, according to the report.

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There were 1,065 suicides in Tennessee in 2015, a rate of 15.6 per 100,000 people, according to the report. That's a "considerable upswing" from 2014 when there 945 at a rate of 14 per 100,000.

It is the highest number of reported suicides in Tennessee since records have been kept, though the TSPN notes that the increase in suicide rate can be attributed to more accurate reporting, as it was common in the past for doctors and local medical examiners and families to attribute a suicide death to another factor.

The Upper Cumberland region, 14 counties forming a rough rectangle stretching from Macon County to Warren County to Cumberland County to Pickett County, had the state's highest suicide rate. It includes DeKalb County, which for years had one of the highest suicide rates in the country and while the rate there is lower now, it is still nearly twice the national average.

Firearms were used in roughly two-thirds of the state's suicides.

Earlier this year, TSPN began offering a free text-messaging support line, available 24 hours a day.

Anyone who needs help can text TN to 741-741 and they will be connected to a counselor.

Image via TSPN