@article{ref1,
title="Effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on suicide-related trauma burden at a level 1 trauma center",
journal="Journal of emergencies, trauma and shock",
year="2022",
author="Eden, Claire M. and Zhu, Roger and Khedr, Shahenda and Khariton, Konstantin",
volume="15",
number="2",
pages="88-92",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: In March 2020, the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases were reported in New York and a stay-at-home order was enacted soon after. Social isolation combined with pandemic-related stressors profoundly affected mental health. We hypothesize that there was an increase in violent suicide attempt during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown compared to previous years. <br><br>METHODS: We queried our institutional trauma registry for total number of trauma activations and identified adult patients with International Classification of Diseases-10 diagnosis of intentional self-harm. We compared incidence during the lockdown to corresponding time periods from previous years. Demographic and injury characteristics were compared, as were outcomes such as mortality. <br><br>RESULTS: We observe a significant uptrend in patients requiring trauma intervention after suicide attempts from July 2019 through July 2020 (r = 0.8, P < 0.001) despite a significant downtrend in trauma volume at our institution during the same period (r = ‒0.7, P = 0.003). Although not statistically significant, patients attempting violent suicide during lockdown were more likely to have preexisting psychiatric diagnoses, to live alone, to have injury severity score >9, and to require surgical intervention. Three COVID-period patients died in the emergency room compared to zero in the comparison group. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Our data show a rise in violent suicide attempts during the pandemic lockdown despite an overall decrease in trauma volume. The ramifications of a stay-at-home order seem to have the most profound impact on individuals with preexisting mental health disease. Early establishment of mental health outreach programs may mitigate the reverberating psychosocial consequences of a pandemic.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0974-2700",
doi="10.4103/jets.jets_142_21",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/jets.jets_142_21"
}