Suicide rates during social crises: Changes in the suicide rate in Japan after the Great East Japan earthquake and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 pandemic
Earthquake
Mortality
Social crisis
Suicide
Journal
Journal of psychiatric research
ISSN: 1879-1379
Titre abrégé: J Psychiatr Res
Pays: England
ID NLM: 0376331
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
08 2021
08 2021
Historique:
received:
10
03
2021
revised:
21
04
2021
accepted:
20
05
2021
pubmed:
6
6
2021
medline:
31
7
2021
entrez:
5
6
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
We aimed to observe the changes in suicide rates after the Great East Japan Earthquake and during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as typical cases of social crises, in Japan. A descriptive epidemiological study was conducted using data on the number of deaths by suicide published by the National Police Agency. The suicide rate ratio during the crisis-the monthly suicide mortality rate in the year of the crisis divided by the average suicide mortality rate in the three years before the crisis-was used as the indicator. After the earthquake, in March 2011 the suicide rate was 18% lower than the average mortality rate for the previous three years. However, it increased by 18% in May and 8% in June; increased mortality was observed among women. The suicide rate began to decline after October 2011. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the suicide rate decreased from February to June 2020. The declines in April and May were significant at 20% and 18%, respectively. From July onwards, the suicide rate of women began to rise, and from October, the overall suicide also began to increase. The rise in female suicide rates was significant, especially in October, with an increase of 70%. Thus, during these crises, suicide rates fell temporarily but then rose, especially among women. The period of increase in suicide rates was longer during the COVID-19 pandemic than after the earthquake. Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote measures for suicide prevention currently, and during a future crisis.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34090102
pii: S0022-3956(21)00304-6
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.05.035
pmc: PMC8674964
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
39-44Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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