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Abstract
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INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 spreads between people in close contact. Social isolation, which is linked with increased suicide risk, prevents COVID-19 from spreading. Suicide and COVID-19 may therefore represent two antagonistic phenomena. Specifically, we tested whether previous cross-national suicide rates inversely correlate with COVID-19 cases and deaths across countries. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We ran unadjusted bivariate correlations between the most updated (2016) cross-national Age-Standardised suicide rates and COVID-19 cumulative cases and deaths (as of: 30/08/2020, 11/10/2020 and 30/05/2021) across countries; and we controlled for WHO Income group, WHO region, suicide data quality, and urbanicity.
RESULTS: Suicide rates negatively correlated with COVID-19 cumulative cases up to 30/08/2020 (r = -0.14, P =.064) and up to 11/10/2020 at an almost significant level (r = -0.149, P =.050) across 174 countries. As of 11/10/2020 this correlation became significant when controlling for WHO region (r = -0.17, P =.028), data quality (r = -0.181, P =.017) and urbanicity (r = -0.172, P =.039); and as of 30/08/2020 when adjusting for WHO region (r = -0.15, P =.047) and data quality a (r = -0.16, P =.036). No significant correlations between suicide rates and COVID-19 deaths were found.
CONCLUSIONS: There seems to be an inverse correlation between previous cross-national suicide rates and COVID-19 cumulative cases across countries. Suicide and COVID-19 appear to behave, to some degree, as antagonistic phenomena, which challenges their prevention.
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Introducción: La COVID-19 se contagia entre personas en contacto estrecho. El aislamiento social, asociado a mayor riesgo de suicidio, previene la propagación de COVID-19. El suicidio y la COVID-19 podrían representar dos fenómenos antagónicos. Investigamos si las tasas de suicidio transnacionales correlacionan inversamente con los casos y fallecimientos por COVID-19 por países.
Material y Métodos: Correlaciones bivariadas no controladas entre las tasas de suicidio transnacionales estandarizadas por edad más actualizadas (2016) y los casos y fallecimientos por COVID-19 (hasta: 30/08/2020, 11/10/2020, 30/05/2021) por países; y ajustadas por riqueza, region, calidad de los datos de suicidio y urbanicidad, con datos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS).
Resultados: Las tasas de suicidio correlacionaron negativamente con los casos por COVID- 19 hasta 30/08/2020 (r = -0.14, P =.064) y hasta 11/10/2020 a un nivel casi significativo (r = -0.149, P =.050) en 174 países. Hasta 11/10/2020 esta correlación se convirtió en significativa al controlar por región OMS (r = -0.17, P =.028), calidad de los datos (r = -0.181, P =.017) y urbanicidad (r = -0.172, P =.039); y hasta 30/08/2020 al ajustar por region OMS (r = -0.15, P =.047) y calidad de los datos (r = -0.16, P =.036). No se encontraron correlaciones significativas entre tasas de suicidio y fallecimientos por COVID-19.
Conclusiones: Parece existir una correlación inversa entre las tasas de suicidio transnacionales previas y los casos por COVID-19 por países. El suicidio y la COVID-19 parecen comportarse, hasta cierto punto, como dos fenómenos antagónicos, lo que supone un desafío para su prevención.
Language: es |