Causes of Mortality Among American College Students: A Pilot Study

Figures & data

TABLE 1  Comparison of Enrollment of 18–24-Year-Old Undergraduates in 157 Sample Schools Versus All (2,345) 4-Year Institutions

	Sample		Population
Enrollment (18–24 year olds)	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
By Gender
Males	640,829	47.07	3,533,683	45.09
Females	720,475	52.93	4,303,070	54.91
Total	1,361,304	100.00	7,700,741
By Institutional Type
Public	1,078,861	79.25	5,206,725	66.44
Private	282,443	20.75	2,630,028	33.56
Total	1,361,304	100.00	7,836,753	100.00
By Census Bureau Region
Region 1: Northeast	303,151	22.27	1,654,795	21.12
Region 2: Midwest	316,837	23.27	1,878,057	23.96
Region 3: South	557,568	40.96	2,696,910	34.41
Region 4: West	182,213	13.39	1,470,979	18.77
Territories	1,535	.11	136,012	1.74
Total	1,361,304	100.00	7,836,753	100.00
By Community size
Large urban	675,063	49.59	3,435,585	43.84
Small urban/Suburban	440,385	32.35	2,949,559	37.64
Rural	245,450	18.03	1,451,609	18.52
Other/Not assigned	406	.03	0	0
Total	1,361,304	100	7,836,753	100

TABLE 2  Comparison of Enrollment of Undergraduates Among Sample and All U.S. Undergraduates by Ethnicity

	Undergraduates in All 4-Year Institutions		Undergraduates in Sample Schools
Race/Ethnicity	N	Percent	n	Percent
White	6,982,692	60	979,518	69
Black	1,253,626	11	114,592	8
Hispanic	1,176,294	10	88,520	6
Asian/Pacific	716,915	6	95,483	7
American Indian/Alaska Native	94,695	1	10,231	1
Nonresident alien	560,158	5	43,601	3
Unknown	843,006	7	84,219	6
2 or more	560,158	5	5,687	0
Total	11,627,386	100.00	1,421,851	100

TABLE 3  Mortality Rates for 18–24 Year Olds at 4-Year Institutions (n = 157)

						95% CI for Rate
Category of Death	Number	Imputed Cases	12 Months	Sample n	Rate per 100,000	Lower	Upper	Predicted Rate per 100,000
All Injury	122		147	1,361,304	10.80	9.05	12.54
Vehicular Injury	78		94	1,361,304	6.88	5.6	8.15	29.21 ^a
Non–alcohol-related		40	48	1,361,304	3.51	2.6	4.41
Alcohol-related		38	46	1,361,304	3.37	2.48	4.26	14.1 ^b
Nontraffic Injury	44		53	1,361,304	3.88	2.92	4.83	14.71 ^a
Non–alcohol-related		27	32	1,361,304	2.39	1.64	3.13
Alcohol-related		17	20	1,361,304	1.49	0.90	2.09	4.9 ^b
Suicide	70		84	1,361,304	6.17	4.97	7.38	11.72 ^a ,7.0 ^c
Unknown	34		41	1,361,304	3.00	2.16	3.84	1.72 ^a
Cancer	22		26	1,361,304	1.94	1.27	2.62	2.7 to 5.4 ^d
Homicide	6		7	1,361,304	0.53	0.18	0.88	15.78 ^a , .315 ^e
Total	254		305
^a18–24-year-old general population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.).
^bCases of alcohol-related injury are imputed using 49% for alcohol-related vehicular mortality and 38.5% for alcohol-related nonvehicular mortality (Hingson, Zha, & Weitzman, 2009).
^cCollege students at 4-year universities 2004/2005–2008/2009 (Schwartz, 2011).
^dNCI provides mortality rates for general population ages 15–19 and 20–24 only; rate reflects these two age groups (Howlader et al.,2010).
^eAll 4-year colleges, all incidents of murder (includes students and nonstudents; U.S. Department of Education Office of Post Secondary Education, n.d.).

TABLE 4  Mortality Rates for 18–24 Year Olds in 4-Year Institutions by Gender and Category of Death

						95% CI for Rate
Category of Death	Number	Imputed Cases ^a	12 Months	Sample n	Rate/100000	Lower	Upper
Men
All Injury	76		91	640,809	14.20	11.28	17.12
Vehicular Injury	45		54	640,809	8.43	6.18	10.67
Non–alcohol-related		23	28	640,809	4.37	2.75	5.99
Alcohol-related		22	26	640,809	4.06	2.50	5.62
Nontraffic Injury	31		37	640,809	5.77	3.91	7.63
Non–alcohol-related		19	23	640,809	3.59	2.12	5.06
Alcohol-related		12	14	640,809	2.18	1.04	3.33
Suicide	56		67	640,809	10.46	7.95	12.96
Unknown	25		30	640,809	4.69	3.15	6.22
Cancer	12		14	640,809	2.25	1.19	3.31
Women
All Injury	46		55	720,495	7.63	5.62	9.65
Vehicular Injury	33		40	720,495	5.55	3.83	7.27
Non–alcohol-related		17	20	720,495	2.78	1.56	3.99
Alcohol-related		16	19	720,495	2.64	1.45	3.82
Nontraffic Injury	13		16	720,495	2.22	1.13	3.31
Non–alcohol-related		8	10	720,495	1.39	.53	2.25
Alcohol-related		5	6	720,495	.83	.17	1.50
Suicide	14		17	720,495	2.34	1.32	3.35
Unknown	9		11	720,495	1.50	0.68	2.32
Cancer	10		12	720,495	1.67	0.81	2.53
^aCases of alcohol-related injury are imputed using 49% for alcohol-related vehicular mortality and 38.5% for alcohol-related nonvehicular mortality (Hingson, Zha, & Weitzman, 2009).

Hingson , R. , Zha , W. and Weitzman , E. R. 2009 . Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18-24: Changes from 1998 to 2005 . Journal of Studies in Alcohol and Other Drugs, Supplement No. , 16 : 12 – 20 .

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Schwartz , A. J. 2011 . Rate, relative risk, and method of suicide by students at 4-year colleges and universities in the United States, 2004-2005 through 2008-2009 . Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior , 41 : 353 – 371 .

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