STATE OF MIND: Syracuse has one of the highest rates of poor mental health in New York state

Onondaga County’s most recent community health assessment and improvement plan was revised in September 2017. The assessment found an increase in suicide death rates in the county from 2009 to 2014 — the suicide mortality rate for adults was an average of 10.6 per 10,000 people, according to HealtheCNY.

Mental health can be affected by factors including genetics, brain chemistry, trauma and abuse, according to HealtheCNY. In 2017, researchers for a Syracuse University and Syracuse community collaborative study looked into neighborhood trauma due to violence. They found, through a community survey, that more than half of Syracuse residents knew more than 10 murder victims personally — and half of residents scored positive on a PTSD checklist for civilians.

In the city of Syracuse, 16.6 percent of people — about 24,000 people — reported that they had poor mental health 14 or more days per month in 2015, per HealtheCNY.

In Syracuse, ZIP code 13202 — close to the downtown area — had the highest number of adult hospitalizations and emergency room visits due to mental health with an average of 280.1 and 366.8 per 10,000 population, respectively. The ZIP code also had the lowest population in the city at 4,321.

The lowest ratio of hospitalization and emergency room visit rates was in the 13219 ZIP code, in the Fairmount area, which had 41.6 and 74.5, respectively.

Onondaga County’s average was 55.3 hospitalizations — lower than New York state’s average of 60.6 — and 96.6 emergency room visits, also lower than New York state’s average of 108.9.

Between 2014 and 2016, the average adult hospitalization rate due to suicide and intentional self-inflicted injury per 10,000 people in Onondaga County was 39.2.

ZIP code 13202 saw an average 224 hospitalizations due to suicide and intentional self-inflicted injury in that same time period — the highest rate in central New York. The next highest rate was in ZIP code 13204, on the Westside, with an average of 105.9.

The graph below shows Syracuse pediatric — people aged 18 and below — hospitalizations and emergency room visits due to mental health per 10,000 population between 2014 and 2016, as shown through ZIP codes sized by population.

ZIP code 13202 again had the highest rates of both, with an average of 37.9 hospitalizations and 80.7 emergency room visits.

Compared to Onondaga County, this was just about double the county’s average of 15.2 hospitalizations and 44.6 emergency room visits. In the county, the most children admitted to the hospital were aged 12-14, and most children who visited the emergency room were aged 15-17.

In his first budget proposal, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh proposed $1 million in mental health support for city school students. The budget was approved in May.

In the U.S., 44 percent of adults with diagnosable mental health problems receive treatment — less than 20 percent of children receive treatment, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In June, New York state chose Onondaga County to test a “zero suicide” program, meaning patients would be screened for suicide risk in all health care places, according to Syracuse.com.

Cover photo courtesy of The New York Public Library.