Suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts rose sharply among U.S. adults over 50 after COVID-19

Suicidal ideation, planning and attempts increased significantly among older U.S. adults in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from UCLA Health and UC San Diego Health published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Using data from nearly 42,500 adults aged 50 or older surveyed in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2021 and 2024, the analysis found that suicidal ideation rose 42.6%, suicide planning increased by 256.2% and suicide attempts climbed 263.3% across the study period.

One of the most striking findings was where those increases were concentrated. Growth in suicidal ideation and planning occurred largely among individuals without traditional risk factors such as major depression or alcohol use, a pattern the authors say raises questions about whether current screening approaches are missing a growing at-risk population. Suicide prevention for older adults relies heavily on screening for depression and other mental health conditions, so a rising share of risk appearing outside those diagnoses could leave many vulnerable people unidentified.

“These findings suggest that many older adults who are struggling are not the ones our current screening approaches are designed to catch,” said lead author Dr. Kevin Yang, a psychiatrist and research fellow at the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program. “If a growing share of suicidal thoughts and plans is showing up in people without a depression diagnosis or recent substance use, we need to rethink how we identify risk and reach older adults before a crisis occurs.”

The study also examined how cannabis use intersected with suicide risk. Suicide planning increased significantly more steeply among respondents with past-year cannabis use than among those without, with a 449.9% increase compared with a 188.3% increase. The authors note that further research is warranted on how cannabis use affects mental health over time, and the survey design cannot establish whether cannabis use contributed to the increase or reflects other underlying factors.

Based on the patterns they observed, the researchers suggest that risk assessment for older adults could be broadened beyond depression to include factors such as social isolation, loneliness, bereavement, financial strain and frailty, alongside established risk factors. Yang said continued monitoring of emerging at-risk groups is needed, along with more research on what leads older adults from suicidal thoughts to planning. The authors stress that the study was exploratory and its findings should be interpreted cautiously: the survey captures snapshots in time and cannot show why the increases occurred or establish cause and effect, responses were self-reported, and people living in institutions such as hospitals were excluded. The total number of reported suicide attempts was relatively small at 113, and the results likely underestimate the full burden of suicidal behavior because the survey cannot capture people who died by suicide. The study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at UC San Diego.

Subject of Research: Post-pandemic trends in suicidal ideation, planning and attempts among U.S. adults aged 50 and older

Article Title: Suicide attempts, ideation spiked significantly among older U.S. adults after COVID-19 pandemic

Article References: Suicide attempts, ideation spiked significantly among older U.S. adults after COVID-19 pandemic. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: suicidal ideation, suicide prevention, older adults, COVID-19 pandemic, mental health screening, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, cannabis use, depression, UCLA Health, UC San Diego, Journal of Affective Disorders, risk factors