ABSTRACT
Background: To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor of Illinois signed a stay-at-home order that took effect on March 21, 2020 and extended through the end of May 2020. Mental health was an important consideration during this time as the health impact of the pandemic and the measures taken, including physical distancing and isolation at home, disrupted people's daily lives. Consequently, deaths due to suicide were a concern for public health officials. Design: We performed a retrospective review of the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office electronic database for all suicide cases during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020-March 2021) and compared those findings with the previous corresponding time period (April 2019-March 2020). Patient demographics and mechanism of death were analyzed. Results: A total of 478 and 445 suicide deaths occurred during the time period of 4/1/2019 - 3/31/2020 and 4/1/2020 - 3/31/2021, respectively (Table 1). In the first year of the pandemic, deaths due to gunshot wounds increased by 10%, deaths due to hanging decreased by 6% (Figure 1) and deaths in the Black population increased by 5%. During the stay-at-home order, there was a decrease in overall suicide deaths compared to the previous year (Figure 2). During both time periods, all mechanisms of suicides were markedly higher for men than women, except in the drug/alcohol toxicity mechanism. Deaths due to gunshot wounds increased by 6% in the 18-30 age group during the first year of the pandemic. Deaths due to drug/alcohol toxicity increased by 11% in the Black population, and this involved mostly Black women. Deaths due to impact by a train decreased 12% overall during the first year of the pandemic;however, there was a 10% increase seen both in the Black and Asian populations compared to the previous year. Conclusions: Our study did not find an increase in number of suicide deaths during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, future suicide prevention requires an assessment of factors that influence suicide risk. In Cook County, there was a significant rise in gunshot suicides in the overall population and an increase in drug/alcohol toxicity suicides among Black women during the first year of the pandemic. Our study shows how changes in lifestyle, access to drugs and transportation method used influence the mechanism of suicide deaths. Future analyses should continue to examine changes in mechanism of death and demographic trends.