The numbers of suicides globally remained largely unchanged or even declined in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with the levels experts feared.
Amidst the developing mental health crisis arising from the deadly virus sweeping the world, a new study has shown that between April 1 and July 31 last year, suicide levels in 21 countries worldwide did not increase.
However, the authors of the study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, note that this only provides a snapshot of the early stages of the pandemic – and that governments must remain vigilant to longer-term mental health effects.
“We need to continue to monitor the data and be alert to any increases in suicide, particularly as the pandemic’s full economic consequences emerge,” says Professor Jane Pirkis, study lead author and director of the Centre for Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
“Policymakers should recognise the importance of high-quality, timely data to support suicide prevention efforts, and should work to mitigate suicide risk factors associated with COVID-19, such as the heightened levels of stress and financial difficulties that some people may experience as a result of the pandemic.
“Increasing mental health services and suicide prevention programmes, and providing financial safety nets may help to prevent the possible longer-term detrimental effects of the pandemic on suicide.”
Few studies have examined the effects of any widespread infectious disease outbreaks on suicide.
This study included around 70 authors from 30 countries who are members of the International COVID-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration (ICSPRC), which was created to share knowledge about the impact of the pandemic on suicide and suicidal behaviour, and advise on ways to mitigate any risks.
The study used real-time suicide data obtained from official government sources to determine whether trends in monthly suicide counts changed after the pandemic began.
They compared numbers of monthly suicides before COVID-19 – estimated using modelling of available data from at least 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2020, and in some cases ranging from 1 January 2016 – with numbers observed in the early months of the pandemic to determine how suicide trends changed during the period.
The study included 21 countries and regions – 16 high-income, and five upper-middle-income – including whole-country data in ten countries and data for 25 specific areas in 11 countries.
The authors found no evidence of an increase in suicide numbers in the early months of the pandemic in any of the countries included. In 12 areas, there was evidence of a decrease in suicide, compared to the expected numbers.
“Many countries in our study put in place additional mental health supports and financial safety nets, both of which might have buffered any early adverse effects of the pandemic,” Professor Pirkis says.
“There is a need to ensure that efforts that might have kept suicide rates down until now are continued, and to remain vigilant as the longer-term mental health and economic consequences of the pandemic unfold. The effect of the pandemic on suicide might vary over time and be different for different groups in the population.”
The authors note that their study did not include low or lower-middle-income countries, which account for 46 per cent of the world’s suicides and might have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic.
They also highlight that their data does not explore the association between the pandemic and suicide in different age groups, for males versus females, or for people of different ethnicities.
