US suicide methods 2000-2018: firearm, suffocation, poisoning most common, rates higher in males

This observational analysis examined age-adjusted suicide rates by sex and method in the United States population from 2000 to 2018. The study did not report a specific sample size, intervention, comparator, or primary outcome. It was a descriptive analysis of population-level data.

The analysis identified firearm, suffocation, and poisoning as the three most common methods of suicide among both males and females. Suicide rates by all methods were higher among males than females. The greatest difference in suicide rates between males and females was observed for suicide by firearm. The study did not report absolute numbers, effect sizes, p-values, or confidence intervals for these findings.

No safety or tolerability data were reported. Key limitations include the purely descriptive and observational nature of the data, which precludes causal inference. The findings are limited to the US population during the specified timeframe, and generalizability beyond this context is uncertain. The lack of reported absolute numbers and effect sizes limits the precision of the findings. The practice relevance of this descriptive surveillance data is for epidemiological understanding rather than direct clinical application.