Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Louise F. Rogers, Chief, County Health
Scott Gilman, Director, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services
Subject: San Mateo County Report on Deaths by Suicide
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing the approval and submission of the San Mateo County Report on Deaths by Suicide, 2019-2020.
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BACKGROUND:
Your Board requested that Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) provide more detailed information on suicides by age (including teen suicides) and suicides by geographic location (including mapping clusters of deaths) and report findings back to the Board of Supervisors.
DISCUSSION:
We have included here key findings from the most recent suicide death data available. This data is from the California Vital Records Business Intelligence System, collected by the San Mateo County Coroner's Office and analyzed by the San Mateo County Health Office of Epidemiology and Evaluation.
* From 2019 to 2020, suicide deaths increased from 60 to 79 deaths, or 32%.
* The two most common methods of death by suicide for 2020 were firearm and hanging (this is comparable to prior years).
* Compared to 2019, there was an increase in suicide deaths among Asians and those born outside of the US (largely from Asian countries) in 2020.
As requested, the below table includes data on suicide deaths by age in San Mateo County.
Suicide Deaths by Age, San Mateo County, 2019-2020
Age Group
2019 (Number)
2019
(%)
2020 (Number)
2020
(%)
0-19|1010|1.7%|1010|2.5%
20-39
17
28.3%
23
29.1%
40-59
25
41.7%
30
38.0%
60-79
13
21.7%
19
24.1%
80+|1010|6.7%|1010|5.1%
Unknown|10 10|0.0%|1010|1.3%
Total
60
100%
79
100%
Unfortunately, geographic mapping of our counties suicide data is not possible. HIPAA privacy rule (45 CFR 164.514) for de-identification of data requires blocking out any zip code with low numbers that could be traced back to an i...
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