Simpler is better when it comes to saving lives - Harvard Gazette

"The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, run by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, replaced 1-800-273-Talk in 2022, accompanied by a $1.5 billion campaign to expand crisis center capacity and workforce nationwide. The change came amid a national conversation about declining mental health - particularly among American teens - that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, suicide deaths among young adults and youth have declined 11 percent - representing 4,372 lives - from the level anticipated by a long upward trend before 2022, researchers say."

""This is one of those rare good-news stories in public health," said Vishal Patel, first author of a paper on the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in April. "Most population health research diagnoses issues like rising mortality and widening differences, so it was refreshing to see this intervention having an effect, though it's not going to solve the issue on its own.""

"Patel, a clinical fellow in surgery at Harvard Medical School and surgical resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said that when researchers first examined figures for all age groups, the lifeline's potential impact appeared to be slight. "Most population health research diagnoses issues like rising mortality and widening differences, so it was refreshing to see this intervention having an effect, though it's not going to solve the issue on its own.""

"But when they broke down the data, they saw a significant decline among those age 15 to 34 - encompassing the high-risk teenage years - that had been masked by results in other groups."

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline replaced 1-800-273-Talk in 2022 and was supported by a $1.5 billion campaign to expand crisis center capacity and workforce nationwide. The lifeline is run by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. After the change, suicide deaths among young adults and youth declined 11%, representing 4,372 lives, compared with what would have been expected from a long upward trend before 2022. Researchers reported that the overall impact looked small when all age groups were combined, but a significant decline emerged when focusing on ages 15 to 34, which includes high-risk teenage years. The change is described as a rare public health success but not a complete solution on its own.

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