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Abstract
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On 2017, Takeda S. reported with the data from the Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office that suicide was the leading cause of death among pregnant and postpartum women, including up to one year after giving birth (1). Since then, various further efforts have been made to reduce suicide, and on July 25, 2017, Japan's Cabinet approved "Overview of Comprehensive Measures to Prevent Suicide" (2).
The graph created by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare from the National Police Agency's suicide statistics original data and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' population estimates and the national census data shows that the number of suicides has been steadily decreasing since 2011 (3). However, looking at the data over the last two years, we can see that the suicide rate has increased slightly in some generations. A closer look at the data shows that the number of male suicides in 2020 decreased by 23 cases compared to 2019 (14078 cases in 2019, 14055 cases in 2020), whereas the number of female suicides increased by 935 cases (6091 cases in 2019, 7026 cases in 2020). Suicides among the younger generation are increasing, especially among females in their 20s and teens, with an increase of 3.3% and 1.1%, respectively. The COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years may have contributed to the increase in the number of suicides among the younger generation by creating to a sense of isolation owing to movement restrictions and vague anxiety.
According to the data from the Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office, the number of suicides among pregnant and postpartum women during the 10-year period from 2005 to 2014 was 63, or 8.7 per 100,000 live births, compared to 25, or 5.4 per 100,000 live births from 2015 to 2020...
Language: en |