Suicide risk among people living with AIDS

Using data from Louisiana vital statistics records, the authors found an increased suicide risk for people with AIDS. Between 1987 and 1991 the suicide rate of people with AIDS (175 per 10,000) was 134.6 times that of the general population (1.3 per 10,000). The suicide rate for people with AIDS in the metropolitan New Orleans area (126 per 10,000) was half that of the state's nonmetropolitan areas (249 per 10,000). This article explores the implications of this astounding suicide rate for social work practice.