• Research highlights
A research team led by Dr. Jeffrey Bridge, Dr. Donna Lucyand Dr. Lisa Horowitz, MPH, analyzed national suicide data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers first identified all U.S. adolescents aged 5 to 24 who cited suicide as the cause of death during the first 10 months of the pandemic (March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020). They calculated total and monthly suicide deaths by sex, age, race, ethnicity, and method of suicide. We then looked at the number of young people who died by suicide during the first 10 months of the pandemic, and estimated the number of suicide deaths during the same period in the absence of the pandemic (calculated using data from the last 5 years). compared to
Researchers identified 5,568 young people died by suicide in the first 10 months of the pandemic, higher than would have been expected had the pandemic not occurred. A few months after the pandemic began in July 2020, we found a higher-than-expected suicide rate.
The increase in suicide deaths varies greatly by gender, age, race, ethnicity, and method of suicide. During the pandemic, suicide deaths were higher than expected among men, preteens ages 5–12, young adults ages 18–24, non-Hispanic Native American or Alaska Native youth, and non-Hispanic black youth. Pandemic. Firearm suicides were also higher than expected.
Significantly higher numbers of reported suicide deaths among certain racial and ethnic groups, particularly non-Hispanic Native American or Alaska Native and non-Hispanic black youth, suggest that the pandemic may have exacerbated suicide rates. It highlights persistent disparities. Also, the increase in suicide deaths among under-teens suggests that this age group may need more attention. This age group tends to be understudied in suicide prevention research and has different developmental needs than older adolescents and young adults.
This study is just the first step in investigating the impact of the pandemic on young people’s mental health and points to some areas that need further investigation. First, it is possible that other events and factors unrelated to the pandemic that occurred during the study period contributed to the increase in youth suicide deaths but were not measured. Second, there is still a need for research to identify the underlying causes of rising suicide deaths among young people, both globally and in specific groups. Third, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic analyzed in this study was limited to 10 months in 2020, suggesting long-term trends in youth suicide that may have changed as the pandemic dragged on. not reflected. Finally, suicide deaths in some groups may be underreported due to inaccurate or misclassified data. Continuous monitoring of suicide rates will help reveal the suicide risks faced by young people in the United States.
The study shows that the pandemic impacted youth suicide rates, but the impact was not the same for everyone and varied by gender, age, race and ethnicity. The authors therefore suggest that it may be helpful to broadly implement suicide prevention efforts in settings that support young people, while at the same time tailoring them to address the disparities faced by specific groups. there is In addition, given the prolonged duration of the pandemic and its continued impact on young people in the United States, we will monitor long-term trends in COVID-19-related suicide rates and analyze factors that contribute to increased suicide risk for some people. It will be important to specify people.
reference
JA Bridge, DA Rouch, Sheftor AH, Herm HC, VM O’Keeffe, Fontanella, CA, G Block, JV Campo, LM Horowitz (2023). Youth suicide in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatrics, 151(3), article e2022058375. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-058375
