As odd as it sounds, it’s true: It had been more than 70 years since anyone had taken an official count of the annual causes of college student deaths. James C. Turner, director of the Department of Student Health at the University of Virginia, decided to change that during his tenure as president of the American College Health Association. The results:
Just over 150 public and private schools responded, and from what Turner has learned so far, death rates for college students could be significantly lower than previously estimated — especially for alcohol-related injuries and traffic deaths. He said the leading cause of student deaths could be suicide.
At the schools he surveyed, Turner said that for every 100,000 students there were just over six suicides and fewer than five alcohol-related deaths. (If you combine alcohol-related traffic deaths with those that did not involve alcohol, there were nearly seven deaths per 100,000 students.)
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