A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School suggests that nearly 4,400 fewer US teens and young adults died by suicide in the first two-and-a-half years of the 988 mental health crisis hotline. The study found that suicide deaths among 15- to 23-year-olds were 11% lower than expected between July 2022 and December 2024. The program, which is one of the largest federal investments in suicide prevention in US history, costed roughly $1.5 billion cumulative. The researchers used nationwide death certificate records from 1999 to 2022 to model what suicide mortality would have been without the line. They found that the 10 states that saw significant increases in call volumes following the launch of 988 also saw significantly larger gaps in expected vs. actual suicide deaths. The results align with previous research showing that after speaking with a trained crisis counselor, most people are significantly more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, and more hopeful.