Data

There is a vast amount of data available on suicide and self-inflicted injury, both nationally and for New York State. The following systems, tools, and databases can be used to search for the data you are looking for. Each entry comes with a description to help you choose the right source. Keep in mind, when looking for data, there is a two-year lag in reporting, and if you are from a sparsely populated county or are looking at groups with small numbers, use at least three years of data in your search.  Here is a 2019 New York State data fact sheet developed by AFSP.

New York State Health Connector: Suicides and Self-Harm in New York State Dashboard: This dashboard provides visual data on suicide and self-harm that is easily navigable and understandable. Data are broken down by age, race/ethnicity, mechanism, marital status, and veteran status. Data may be searched across New York State, in New York City, and at the county level.

New York State Department of Health Statistics for Suicide and Self-Inflicted Injuries: The New York State Department of Health Bureau of Injury Prevention provides reports on suicides and self-inflicted injuries as well as links to other suicide-related data resources.

New York Violent Death Reporting System (NYVDRS): New York State is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collect information on violent deaths including homicides, suicides, unintentional firearm deaths, legal intervention deaths, and terrorism-related deaths. NYVDRS collects information from vital records, law enforcement records, and coroners and medical examiners and places it into one centralized database. The database includes common circumstances surrounding the death including mental health problems, depressed mood, suicide notes, history of mental health treatment, and intimate partner problems.

New York State Prevention Agenda: Promote Mental Health and Prevent Substance Abuse: The New York State Prevention Agenda is a health improvement plan that guides state and local action for improving the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers. The Prevention Agenda 2019-2024 may be accessed here, with Goal 2.5 Prevent Suicides on pages 166-168. A dashboard that measures progress on Prevention Agenda goals is publicly available, with indicators on poor mental health, feelings of sadness and hopelessness among adolescents, adolescent suicide attempts, and overall suicide death rates. Other measures in the Promote Mental Health and Prevent Substance Abuse area include alcohol use, non-medical use of pain relievers, binge drinking, and cigarette smoking.

Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS): WISQARS, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) database, allows users access to filterable data on suicides, unintentional drug overdoses, and deaths related to homicide and legal intervention. Data are available both at the national and state level, and users may filter by demographics, mechanism of death, and urban/rural designation. WISQARS also provides data visualization, state and national maps, tables illustrating leading causes of death, and cost of injury reports.

Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER): WONDER, another database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides similar functions to WISQARS regarding suicides but also allows users to search at the county level and retrieve specific data on mechanism of death. WONDER also provides data on all causes of mortality, not just injuries.

Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS): The YRBS is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey distributed to a representative sample of high school students every two years. Data from the YRBS are housed in the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Users can search risk behaviors on a variety of health topics and filter results by state, municipality, grade, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Suicide-related measures include feelings of sadness and hopelessness, thoughts about suicide, suicide plans (in some states), reported suicide attempts, and suicide attempts that require medical attention. The surveillance system allows users to make comparisons and identify significant differences.