Purtle Jonathan, Mauri Amanda I, Lindsey Michael A, Keyes Katherine M
Department of Public Health Policy and Management, School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, USA; email:
Silver School of Social Work, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Annu Rev Public Health. 2025 Apr;46(1):349-367. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-071723-121359. Epub 2025 Jan 7.
Suicide rates have increased in the United States in recent years. Public policies have great potential to prevent suicide death, and well-designed quasi-experimental studies have identified policies that are effective at reducing suicide rates; however, evidence about these policies has not been synthesized. This review summarizes evidence across three domains of public policies: () policies that affect structural determinants of suicide risk (e.g., policies that improve economic security), () policies that promote access to clinical services (e.g., Medicaid expansion), and () policies that limit access to lethal means for completing suicide (e.g., policies that restrict access to firearms). The historical context of suicide prevention in US public policy is provided, considerations for successful suicide prevention policy implementation are discussed-such as policy awareness among key groups, enforcement, and sufficient funding-and priority areas for future research are enumerated.
