http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/stories/person/1374 Stories and external links referencing a person (RSS) en http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/culture-society/articles/hsph-study-shows-guns-homes-linked-higher-rates-suicide <!--paging_filter--><p>In the first nationally representative study to examine the relationship between survey measures of household firearm ownership and state-level rates of suicide in the United States, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) found that suicide rates among children, women, and men of all ages are higher in states where more households have guns. The study appears in the April 2007 issue of The Journal of Trauma.</p><p>“We found that where there are more guns, there are more suicides,” said Matthew Miller, assistant professor of health policy and management at HSPH and lead author of the study.</p><p><a href="http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/culture-society/articles/hsph-study-shows-guns-homes-linked-higher-rates-suicide">read more</a></p> Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:03:54 -0400 4297 at http://harvardscience.harvard.edu http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/culture-society/articles/researchers-link-firearms-suicide-rate <!--paging_filter--><p>The Harvard Injury Control Research Center (HICRC) at the Harvard School of Public Health has investigated suicide and its relationship to firearms, revealing important statistical information about the problem. To put suicide rates in perspective, from 1979 to 1999, more than 448,000 Americans died of AIDS or HIV-related illnesses while, during the same period, more than 626,225 people killed themselves, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine. More than three times the number of Americans committed suicide from 1964 to 1973 than were killed in the Vietnam War during the same period. Studies indicate that having a gun is a strong risk factor for suicide and that risk is elevated for all age groups, said Matthew Miller, associate director of HICRC. Research at HICRC has indicated that states with high levels of gun ownership have higher rates of overall suicides compared to states with low levels of gun ownership. Both men and women use firearms to kill themselves, Miller said. Far more men and women attempt suicide using drugs and knives, but the case fatality rate from gun attempts is so high that the majority of suicide deaths are firearm deaths.</p> Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:22:40 -0400 70652986 3204 at http://harvardscience.harvard.edu