aging
An overlooked group has the highest suicide rate — and it's rising
Maria Fabrizio for STAT
If you had to guess, what demographic would you say is most at risk of suicide? You wouldn't be blamed for saying young people — for years, there's been a surge in research, advocacy, and awareness around youth mental health. But in truth, it's another, overlooked group: Older men.
"There is a belief among some that depression is a natural part of aging," Mark Salzer, a professor of social and behavioral sciences, told STAT's Olivia Goldhill. "It is not." Suicide rates have risen steadily for two decades among men 55 and older, and researchers are struggling with the question of why, and how to intervene.
Here's something I found particularly interesting and fraught: Men of European descent who die by suicide don't have particularly severe social or health challenges, but do have traditionally masculine traits such as a narrow sense of self, constricted range of interests, being closed off to feelings, and less willingness to articulate vulnerability. Read more from Olivia on how this problem has evolved, and what solutions researchers are looking toward.
traffic
Bike & pedestrian deaths have increased dramatically
Between 2013 and 2023, the rate of pedestrian and cyclist deaths in the U.S. rose from 2.1 deaths per 100,000 people to 2.9, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Those changes were particularly concentrated in the Midwest, South, and West, with no major changes seen in the Northeast, where rates are lowest.
The brief federal report didn't separate data on pedestrians and cyclists. But for those on foot, there may be signs of good news. The Governors Highway Safety Association, which tracks pedestrian traffic fatalities, found that after years of increasing deaths, there were small reductions in the number of pedestrian deaths in 2023 and 2024. In 2024, more than 7,100 pedestrians died on U.S. roads, which is about 4% less than the year before, but almost 20% higher than in 2016.
science
Eight babies have been born from 'three-parent IVF'
Ten years ago, U.K. policymakers gave the green light to a pioneering reproductive technology meant to spare children from being born with types of rare but sometimes fatal diseases caused by certain genetic mutations in the mitochondria. The method involved combining not just the genes of a mother and father to produce an embryo, but a bit of DNA from a third person as well.
Yesterday, the team in England that's been performing the technique reported that eight healthy babies have been born so far, highlighting that the approach reduced the risk of children inheriting disease-causing mutations in the pieces of DNA contained in our mitochondria. The results have been long awaited as the first large test of the approach. STAT's Andrew Joseph and Megan Molteni wrote about what it means.
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