Citation

Chang YH, Chang SS, Hsu CY, Gunnell D. J. Clin. Psychiatry 2020; 81(6): e13454.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Physicians Postgraduate Press)

DOI

10.4088/JCP.20l13454

PMID

32991791

Abstract

Since the first cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were reported in China between the end of 2019 and early 2020, the infection has spread rapidly across the globe. Close to a million people have died. National governments have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by introducing a series of measures to control its spread. These measures include stay-at-home orders (lockdown), school and business closures, and health service reconfiguration. The measures have had widespread secondary effects such as rises in unemployment, financial difficulties, social isolation, domestic violence, and difficulties accessing health services. There are concerns that these effects, together with consequences of the disease itself (eg, increases in mortality, fear of the disease) may have a profound impact on population mental health and suicide risk.1,2 However, few studies have investigated the impact on suicide of previous epidemics. There is a suggestion that suicides rose in the US during the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic3 and among older people in Hong Kong during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic.4

During the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic, Taiwan experienced 2 waves of infection during October-December 1918, when an estimated 770,000 people (22.4% of the population) were infected, and December 1919-March 1920 (148,000 cases; 4.3% of the population).5 In response, the Japanese Colonial Government implemented policies such as closing schools and theaters and prohibiting religious activities. People were advised to keep physically distant from individuals with influenza. The restaurant and transportation industries were severely affected. In view of current concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide, we investigated changes in suicide rates in Taiwan at the time of the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic.

Language: en