(Radio Iowa) - Iowa mirrors a national trend with a slight drop in deaths due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide, according to a report from a non-partisan public health policy group.
Nadine Gracia, president and C-E-O of Trust for America’s Health, says figures for 2022 show the first drop in those deaths in five years, though there's still much work to be done. She says the long-term trend is still alarmingly high. The report says 16-hundred Iowans died from alcohol, drugs and suicide that year, down one-percent overall from the previous year.
While Iowa deaths due to alcohol and drugs fell, the study says suicides rose by six-percent. Gracia says rural residents appear to be especially at risk and she points to a lack of access to treatment options. The report finds 59-percent of Iowans live in an area that has a mental health care shortage.