Project Description Narrative:
Suicide is a critical public health concern globally, nationally, and in Wisconsin. Globally, approximately 700,000 people die by suicide each year. In the United States, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in 2020, and was the second leading cause of death for individuals ages 10 through 14 and ages 25 through 34. Although rates of suicide for certain demographic groups, including White, non-Hispanic males, have decreased slightly over time, rates for other groups, including Black youth as young as age five, have been increasing. This shift toward suicide rates increasing among younger individuals in the United States accounts for thousands of years of potential life lost before age 65.
One of the ways in which public health has contributed to the prevention of injury and disease is through fatality review. Fatality review serves as a public health strategy aimed at understanding and preventing specific types of fatalities (e.g., suicide, homicide) or those occurring in specific settings or among certain populations (e.g., hospitals, youth). By carefully examining the circumstances surrounding each death, review teams can track patterns, identify missed opportunities for prevention and intervention, and advocate for necessary changes to bridge these gaps.
The overall aim of this project is to establish a sustainable infrastructure for suicide review in Wisconsin, which will include the establishment of a statewide database to collect information gained through the work of the 15 teams currently engaged in suicide review in Wisconsin. This in-depth, comprehensive information will serve as a complement to the surveillance and vital statistics data that is already available through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. This infrastructure and database can then be accessed and leveraged by local and state suicide prevention organizations to improve health and prevent suicide through targeted prevention strategies that are relevant to the contexts in which their residents live, work, and play. Precedent for this approach has been established in Wisconsin through both child death review (CDR) and overdose fatality review (OFR).
In addition, this work is in direct alignment with the state’s suicide prevention strategy, specifically with goal four, which is to, “Improve Surveillance of Suicide and Evaluation of Prevention Programs.” Ultimately, the project team intends for the work of this project to grow into a larger, regional endeavor through its partnerships with neighboring states through the Midwest Injury Prevention Alliance, which will contribute to suicide review efforts at the national level.