Suicide’s shadow looms

While it’s long been established that overall rates of suicide are disproportionately high in the mostly rural North State compared with California as a whole, a recently released report shows disturbing trends specific to men and veterans in Butte County.

The Butte County Community Health Assessment for 2015-17, compiled by multi-agency partnership Together We Can: Healthy Living in Butte County, finds that rates of suicide for men are considerably higher in Butte County than for women. That’s consistent with state and nationwide trends, but the gap in suicide rates between sexes is particularly wide here. Annually, 32.2 men per 100,000 people take their own lives, compared with 7.2 women per 100,000.

The report also found that veterans age 18 and older in Butte County have a suicide rate more than 3 times higher than adults in the general population, at 62.9 per 100,000. Go to togetherwecanbc.com to view the full report.