Gendered Patterns in Manifest and Latent Mental Health Indicators Among Suicide Decedents: 2003–2020 US National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)

Abstract

Objectives. To investigate differences in the documentation of mental health symptomology between male and female suicide decedents in the 2003–2020 US National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Methods. Using information on 271 998 suicides in the 2003–2020 NVDRS, we evaluated precoded mental health–related variables and topic model–derived latent mental health themes in the law enforcement and coroner or medical examiner death narratives compiled by trained public health workers. Results. Public health records of male compared with female suicides were less likely to include notations of mental health conditions or treatment interventions. However, topic modeling of death summaries revealed that male suicide decedents were more likely to evidence several subclinical cognitive and emotional indicators of distress. Conclusions. Suicide death records vary by gender, both in recorded evidence for mental health conditions at time of death and in accompanying narratives describing proximal circumstances surrounding these deaths. Our findings hint that patterns of subclinical mental health changes among men might be less well captured in commonly used mental health indicators, suggesting that prevention efforts may benefit from measures that also target assessment of subclinical distress. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print November 10, 2023:e1–e10. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307427 )