Suicide reduction in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons informing national prevention strategies for suicide reduction.
J R Soc Med
; 114(10): 473-479, 2021 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1435171
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of federal, public health and social support programs on national suicide rates in Canada.DESIGN:
Cross-sectional study.SETTING:
Canadian National Database (i.e., Statistics Canada) and Statista.PARTICIPANTS:
Population-level data, and economic and consumer market data. MAIN OUTCOMEMEASURES:
Suicide mortality data, population data and unemployment data were obtained from available statistical databases (e.g. Statistics Canada). We quantified suicide rate by dividing the total number of suicide deaths by the national population expressed as a rate per 100,000 population.RESULTS:
Overall suicide mortality rate decreased in Canada from 10.82 deaths per 100,000 in the March 2019 - February 2020 period to 7.34 per 100,000 (i.e. absolute difference of 1300 deaths) in the March 2020 - February 2021 period. The overall Canadian unemployment rate changed from an average monthly rate of 5.7% in 2019 to 9.5% in 2020.CONCLUSION:
Our results indicate that for the first post-pandemic interval evaluated (i.e., March 2020 - February 2021), suicide rates in Canada decreased against a background of extraordinary public health measures intended to mitigate community spread of COVID-19. An externality of public health measures was a significant rise in national unemployment rates in population measures of distress. Our results suggest that government interventions that broadly aim to reduce measures of insecurity (i.e., economic, housing, health), and timely psychiatric services, should be prioritised as part of a national suicide reduction strategy, not only during but after termination of the COVID-19 pandemic.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Public Health
/
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
/
Suicide Prevention
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
J R Soc Med
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
01410768211043186
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