Suicides are more common in states — including Utah — with higher rates of gun ownership, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Twice as many people committed suicide from 2000 to 2002 in the 15 states with the highest rates of gun ownership, compared with the six states where guns are least common, according to the study published in the April issue of the Journal of Trauma. The population in both groups was about the same, the study said.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among Americans and the eighth leading cause of death among U.S. men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site. The higher suicide rates in the Harvard study were found in men, women and children of all ages in states where more households have guns.

"We found that where there are more guns, there are more suicides," Matthew Miller, assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health, said in a statement. Miller was the lead author of the study.

Utah, which ranks 15th in gun ownership, ranked seventh highest in suicides between 2000 and 2004, said Gary Mower, injury prevention coordinator for the Utah Department of Health. Firearms accounted for 53 percent of those deaths, more than twice the rates for either hanging or poisoning.

"Guns are easy to get to and are designed to kill," Mower said. Males, who are four times as likely to commit suicide than females in Utah (although females make more attempts), "tend to pick a more violent way," he added.

In Utah, the highest suicide rate is in the 35 to 44 age group, followed by 45 to 54, and then those older than 75.

Miller and colleagues used survey data to estimate gun ownership in all 50 states and looked for a relationship with suicide. The researchers controlled for other factors such as poverty, urbanization, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness.

Suicide attempts with firearms are much more likely to be fatal than other means, according to the study. Though lethal self-inflicted gunshot wounds make up just 5 percent of all suicide attempts, more than 90 percent of such cases are fatal, the researchers said. That compares with a fatality rate of less than 3 percent for drug-related suicides, which constitute about 75 percent of all attempts.

More than half of the 32,439 Americans who committed suicide in 2004 used a gun, according to the study. Suicides by other means weren't significantly associated with rates of gun ownership, the research showed. The study didn't address whether some people buy guns with the specific intent to commit suicide.

Researchers recommended that guns either be removed from the home or stored securely and separately from ammunition.