Increase in suicide following an initial decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
Increase in suicide following an initial decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
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DOI：
10.1038/s41562-020-01042-z
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发表时间：
2021-01-15
影响因子：
29.9
通讯作者：
Okamoto, Shohei
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Tanaka, Takanao;Okamoto, Shohei
人们越来越担心，冠状病毒病2019年(新冠肺炎)大流行可能损害心理健康，并加剧自杀风险。在这里，基于1848个行政单位覆盖所有日本人口的月度自杀记录，我们评估了自杀死亡率在大流行期间是否发生了变化。使用差值估计，我们发现在大流行的前5个月(2020年2月至6月)，每月自杀率下降了14%。这可能是由于一系列复杂的原因，包括政府慷慨的补贴、减少的工作时间和学校停课。相比之下，在第二波(2020年7月至10月)期间，月自杀率增加了16%，其中女性(37%)和儿童和青少年(49%)的增幅更大。尽管新冠肺炎疫情的不利影响可能长期存在，但其修饰性因素(如政府补贴)可能不会持续下去。因此，有效的自杀预防--特别是在弱势群体中--应该是一个重要的公共卫生考虑因素。
There is increasing concern that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could harm psychological health and exacerbate suicide risk. Here, based on month-level records of suicides covering the entire Japanese population in 1,848 administrative units, we assessed whether suicide mortality changed during the pandemic. Using difference-in-difference estimation, we found that monthly suicide rates declined by 14% during the first 5 months of the pandemic (February to June 2020). This could be due to a number of complex reasons, including the government's generous subsidies, reduced working hours and school closure. By contrast, monthly suicide rates increased by 16% during the second wave (July to October 2020), with a larger increase among females (37%) and children and adolescents (49%). Although adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic may remain in the long term, its modifiers (such as government subsidies) may not be sustained. Thus, effective suicide prevention-particularly among vulnerable populations-should be an important public health consideration.