Study: Alarming rise in children taken to the ER with suicidal thoughts or attempts
The number of children across the U.S. who have been taken to the emergency room for suicidal attempts or thoughts has doubled since 2007, according to a new analysis.
The report, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics and based on data extracted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, concluded that diagnoses of suicide-related behavior of children aged between 5 and 18 burgeoned from 580,000 in 2007 to 1.12 million in 2015 - marking an uptick of 2.17 percent of all visits to 3.5 percent in the eight-year period.
The average age of the child sampled for data collection was 13, but some 43 percent of those taken to the ER with suicidal attempts or tendencies were between 5 and 11 years old.
"The trend of increased rates of suicide ideation and suicidal thoughts amongst the most precious of our society is more than alarming: it is also disheartening," Dr. Melanie Burkholder, a Board Certified Counselor, told Fox News.
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