Suicide: We’re number two

The Nevada Health Division has released a study, Injury in Nevada, that says the state has the second highest suicide rate in the nation.

When Nevada shows up at the wrong end of quality of life rankings like this, officials tend to write them off as reflecting tourism or the transience of the state’s population. This report anticipated that claim and addressed it: “In Nevada, residents are more likely to die from suicide than from homicide, or HIV AIDS and almost as likely to die from suicide as motor vehicle-related crashes.”

Death causes of various kinds are also broken down by ethnicity: “In Nevada, African-Americans are 1.5 times more likely to suffer a fatal gunshot wound than any other race. Suicide rates are highest among white residents while occupational injury fatality rates are highest among Hispanics.”

“Conversely, suicide mortality rates are not impacted by socio-economic status,” the report said.