Citation

Bastiampillai T, Allison S, Cubbage J, Nestadt P, Sharfstein J. Prim. Care Companion CNS Disord. 2022; 24(2): 21com03168.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Physicians Postgraduate Press)

DOI

10.4088/PCC.21com03168

PMID

35421907

Abstract

The potential impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on US suicide rates has concerned clinicians and public health officials since the start of the pandemic. Against a background of rising US suicide rates over the last 2 decades,1 COVID-19 has caused substantially higher levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, all risk factors for suicide. From the second quarter of 2019 to June 2020, the prevalence of anxiety symptoms tripled in the United States (from 8.1% to 25.5%), and the prevalence of depressive symptoms nearly quadrupled (from 6.5% to 24.3%).2 Compared to 2018 (referring to the preceding 12 months), suicidal ideation in the past 30 days more than doubled in 2020 (from 4.3% to 10.7%), with particularly steep increases among young people, Black Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

To date, however, predictions of higher overall suicide rates have not come to pass. Total US suicides fell from 47,511 in 2019 to an estimated 44,834 in 2020.3 Pirkis et al4 found that California, Illinois, and Texas (4 counties) experienced a significant decline in suicide rates, while Louisiana and New Jersey experienced stable suicide rates during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicide mortality also decreased in Maryland.5 The impact of COVID-19 on US suicide rates appears similar to findings in other high-income and upper middle-income countries...

Language: en