By News staff
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Rhode Island had the country's third-highest increase in suicides among the middle-aged in the decade that included the recession and housing crisis.
A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the suicide rate among those 35 to 64 in Rhode Island jumped 69 percent from 1999 to 2010. Only Wyoming and North Dakota had steeper hikes in the same group.
The national increase was 28 percent.
The report said Rhode Island suicides among the middle-aged went from 53 in 1999 to 92 in 2010 -- still a relatively low number overall. But the rate increased from 13 per 100,000 people to 23 per 100,000.
Rhode Island has struggled with one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S.