Suicide-Related Encounters Increased Among Youth During COVID-19 Pandemic
New findings show an increase in suicide-related emergency department encounters in some months during the COVID-19 pandemic when compared with rates in 2019, according to results from a cross-sectional study published in JAMA Psychiatry.
“Given the widespread psychosocial disruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, many experts have voiced concern regarding youth suicide rates,” wrote Kathryn K Ridout, MD, PhD, The Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, and co-researchers. “However, diagnosis-based, population-level evidence regarding the prevalence of suicide attempts among youth during the COVID-19 pandemic is lacking.”
Researchers aimed to compare suicide-related emergency department encounters in 2019 to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data on emergency department encounters in patients with suicidal thoughts or behaviors aged 5 to 17 in 2019 and 2020 from an integrated, community-based health system at Kaiser Permanente Northern California were compared using percent relative effects.
Researchers examined the data sets for each year in 4 different time intervals, including January 1 to March 9, known as the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period; March 10 to May 31, the initial shelter-in-place order; June 1 to August 31; and September 1 to December 15.
In total, 2123 youth suicide-related emergency department encounters occurred in 2020 and 2339 occurred in 2019.
Adolescent Depression and Suicide Risk Increases During the Pandemic
Rates of suicide-related emergency department visits were significantly lower during the initial lockdown period in 2020 when compared with the previous year.
While females accounted for 1483 suicide-related emergency department in 2020 compared with 1542 in 2019, suicide-related visits for female youth spiked between June 1 and August 31, 2020 in addition to September 1 through December 15, 2020.
In general, emergency department visits were lower at the beginning of the pandemic when compared with 2019.
“Given this denominator change, suicide-related encounters among youth accounted for a larger percent of overall youth ED encounters during the COVID-19 pandemic period compared with 2019,” wrote Dr Ridout.
When compared with overall emergency department encounters, risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors increased by 99.7% following the March 10 to May 31 initial shelter-in-place order time period.
Compared with 2019, youth aged 5 to 12 saw a 133.5% higher risk of presenting suicide-related concerns and youth aged 13 to 17 saw a 69.4% higher risk of presenting suicide-related concerns in 2020.
Emergency department encounters for suicidal behavior or attempt increased by 26% in 2020.
“A greater number of female youth, youth with no psychiatric history, and youth with psychiatric diagnoses at the time of the ED encounter presented for suicide-related concerns during the pandemic, suggesting these may be vulnerable groups in need of further interventions,” concluded Ridout et al. “Adjustments in care may be warranted to accommodate these groups during periods of crisis.”
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