Fernández-Martínez E, Barros-Martínez A, Martínez-Fernández MC, Quiñones-Pérez M. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Self-Harm Attempts Observed in a Hospital Emergency Department.
Healthcare (Basel) 2024;
12:385. [PMID:
38338270 PMCID:
PMC10855686 DOI:
10.3390/healthcare12030385]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Suicide is a significant public health concern, with one million lives lost to it every year. Suicidal ideation and attempts are markers of high risk. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative psychological impact on the population. This study aims to describe and analyze the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of patients who have received medical attention for self-harm attempts in a hospital emergency department, comparing the period before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a descriptive, retrospective study that collected data from medical records of patients who received care for self-harm attempts in the emergency department. The data included cases from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2022. In total, 529 cases of self-harm attempts were identified, of which 62.8% were female. The number of post-pandemic self-harm attempts significantly increased compared to the period before the pandemic. The most used method for self-harm was medication ingestion. This study revealed that over one-third of the participants had previously attempted suicide. Most self-harm attempts were made by women in the 10-20 or 41-50 age groups, with a history of psychiatric illness and multiple medications. The study results also highlighted an increase in self-harm attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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