Suicide numbers during the first 9-15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with pre-existing trends: An interrupted time series analysis in 33 countries

BACKGROUND

Predicted increases in suicide were not generally observed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the picture may be changing and patterns might vary across demographic groups. We aimed to provide a timely, granular picture of the pandemic's impact on suicides globally.

METHODS

We identified suicide data from official public-sector sources for countries/areas-within-countries, searching websites and academic literature and contacting data custodians and authors as necessary. We sent our first data request on 22nd June 2021 and stopped collecting data on 31st October 2021. We used interrupted time series (ITS) analyses to model the association between the pandemic's emergence and total suicides and suicides by sex-, age- and sex-by-age in each country/area-within-country. We compared the observed and expected numbers of suicides in the pandemic's first nine and first 10-15 months and used meta-regression to explore sources of variation.

FINDINGS

We sourced data from 33 countries (24 high-income, six upper-middle-income, three lower-middle-income; 25 with whole-country data, 12 with data for area(s)-within-the-country, four with both). There was no evidence of greater-than-expected numbers of suicides in the majority of countries/areas-within-countries in any analysis; more commonly, there was evidence of lower-than-expected numbers. Certain sex, age and sex-by-age groups stood out as potentially concerning, but these were not consistent across countries/areas-within-countries. In the meta-regression, different patterns were not explained by countries' COVID-19 mortality rate, stringency of public health response, economic support level, or presence of a national suicide prevention strategy. Nor were they explained by countries' income level, although the meta-regression only included data from high-income and upper-middle-income countries, and there were suggestions from the ITS analyses that lower-middle-income countries fared less well.

INTERPRETATION

Although there are some countries/areas-within-countries where overall suicide numbers and numbers for certain sex- and age-based groups are greater-than-expected, these countries/areas-within-countries are in the minority. Any upward movement in suicide numbers in any place or group is concerning, and we need to remain alert to and respond to changes as the pandemic and its mental health and economic consequences continue.

FUNDING

None.

[Culture of remembrance based on trauma therapy. From trauma to commemoration culture using the example of NS-euthanasia in Carinthia/Austria]

BACKGROUND

Crimes against humanity took place in many institutions as well as psychiatric departments during the Nazi dictatorship.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this review paper is to present a special kind of dealing with crimes in psychiatric institutions on a local and regional level.

METHODS

Analogous to the psychiatric-psychotherapeutic approach with traumatized individuals, the procedure "secure-describe and work through-reconnect" is suggested for the collective within the frame of remembrance work and commemorative culture.

RESULTS

As an example of a collective memorial process, the handling of the topic of the crime of Nazi euthanasia in Carinthia/Austria is presented.

Der stationäre Suizid an der Abteilung für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie Klagenfurt – eine 10-Jahres-Bilanz

Der stationäre Suizid wird definiert als Suizid während des voll- oder teilstationären Aufenthaltes, der sich entweder in den Räumlichkeiten selbst (Kliniksuizid) oder während Ausgängen und Beurlaubungen in oder außerhalb des Krankenhausgeländes abspielt. In dieser Arbeit erfolgt eine epidemiologisch-deskriptive Darstellung der insgesamt in den letzten 10 Jahren während des Aufenthaltes vollzogenen 18 stationären Suizide an einer psychiatrischen Abteilung im Krankenhaus mit Vollversorgungsauftrag.

Suicide trends in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time-series analysis of preliminary data from 21 countries

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic is having profound mental health consequences for many people. Concerns have been expressed that, at their most extreme, these consequences could manifest as increased suicide rates. We aimed to assess the early effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide rates around the world.

METHODS

We sourced real-time suicide data from countries or areas within countries through a systematic internet search and recourse to our networks and the published literature. Between Sept 1 and Nov 1, 2020, we searched the official websites of these countries' ministries of health, police agencies, and government-run statistics agencies or equivalents, using the translated search terms "suicide" and "cause of death", before broadening the search in an attempt to identify data through other public sources. Data were included from a given country or area if they came from an official government source and were available at a monthly level from at least Jan 1, 2019, to July 31, 2020. Our internet searches were restricted to countries with more than 3 million residents for pragmatic reasons, but we relaxed this rule for countries identified through the literature and our networks. Areas within countries could also be included with populations of less than 3 million. We used an interrupted time-series analysis to model the trend in monthly suicides before COVID-19 (from at least Jan 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020) in each country or area within a country, comparing the expected number of suicides derived from the model with the observed number of suicides in the early months of the pandemic (from April 1 to July 31, 2020, in the primary analysis).

FINDINGS

We sourced data from 21 countries (16 high-income and five upper-middle-income countries), including whole-country data in ten countries and data for various areas in 11 countries). Rate ratios (RRs) and 95% CIs based on the observed versus expected numbers of suicides showed no evidence of a significant increase in risk of suicide since the pandemic began in any country or area. There was statistical evidence of a decrease in suicide compared with the expected number in 12 countries or areas: New South Wales, Australia (RR 0·81 [95% CI 0·72-0·91]); Alberta, Canada (0·80 [0·68-0·93]); British Columbia, Canada (0·76 [0·66-0·87]); Chile (0·85 [0·78-0·94]); Leipzig, Germany (0·49 [0·32-0·74]); Japan (0·94 [0·91-0·96]); New Zealand (0·79 [0·68-0·91]); South Korea (0·94 [0·92-0·97]); California, USA (0·90 [0·85-0·95]); Illinois (Cook County), USA (0·79 [0·67-0·93]); Texas (four counties), USA (0·82 [0·68-0·98]); and Ecuador (0·74 [0·67-0·82]).

INTERPRETATION

This is the first study to examine suicides occurring in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in multiple countries. In high-income and upper-middle-income countries, suicide numbers have remained largely unchanged or declined in the early months of the pandemic compared with the expected levels based on the pre-pandemic period. We need to remain vigilant and be poised to respond if the situation changes as the longer-term mental health and economic effects of the pandemic unfold.

FUNDING

None.

[Psychiatry and psychiatric patients : A study of the adherence after psychiatric inpatient treatment at the department of psychiatry and psychotherapy at the Clinicum Klagenfurt am Wörthersee.]

BACKGROUND

Based on the data of an analysis of costs of psychopharmacological treatment by the Austrian Rechnungshof in 2011, which also revealed remarkable differences between Salzburg and Carinthia (federal states of Austria), a panel of experts discussed the potential causes. A consequence was the following prospective study, which took place at the department of psychiatry and psychotherapy in Klagenfurt/Carinthia.

METHODS

The aim in this mirror design study was to analize the data of psychopharmacologic treatment, epidemiological data of the treated patients (N = 230) and utilization of healthcare ressources such as contacts to psychiatrists or practicioners after discharge.

RESULTS

We could show a high adherence concerning the redeem of the prescriptions, a low proportion of generics, and a very low rate of contacts to psychiatrists contrasting contacts to practitioners.

CONCLUSIONS

Beneath that in the sense of descriptive epidemiology the data help to characterize adherence behavior after discharge and details of in- and outdoor treatment.

[Freud in Carinthia. A historical search]

This paper sheds some new light on four visits of Freud to Carinthia between 1898 and 1923. New information from contemporary sources is added to already known facts (patient visit in 1898; encounters with Alban Berg in 1900 and 1907).

[Fates at the psychiatric hospital of Klagenfurt during National Socialism]

In this article the fate of Mr. B. is described as an example for the fate of hundreds of mentally ill patients of the "Landes-Irrenanstalt of Klagenfurt", murdered during the era of National Socialism. This extraordinary fate marks two outstanding aspects of history of medicine, the treatment of syphilis with malaria and the organised mass murder of mentally ill people during the cynic era of National Socialism. Beyond this historical perspective reconstructive biographical work together with relatives is presented as a proactive duty of psychiatric institutions.