ABSTRACT
Associations between sensational news coverage of suicide and subsequent increases in suicidal behaviour in the general population have been well documented. Amidst growing concern over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide rates, it is especially important that news coverage of suicidal behaviour adheres to recommended standards for the responsible reporting of suicide. Using a set of dimensions based on international media guidelines, we analysed the quality and content of all UK news reports of possible COVID-19 related suicides and suicide attempts in the first four months of the pandemic (N=285 reports of 78 individual incidents published in print and online newspapers between 16th March and 12th July 2020). The majority of news reports made an explicit link between suicidal behaviour and the COVID-19 pandemic in the headline (187/285, 65.5%), and portrayed this association as strong and direct (n=196/272, 72.1%), mostly based on statements by family, friends or acquaintances of the deceased (171/285, 60%). The impact of the pandemic on suicidal behaviour was most often attributed to feelings of isolation (78/285, 27.4%), poor mental health (42, 14.7%) and sense of entrapment (41, 14.4%) as a result of government-imposed restrictions. Although rarely of poor overall quality, reporting was biased towards young people, frontline staff and relatively unusual suicides (including those involving a celebrity, murder-suicide and violent methods) Also, to varying degrees, reports failed to meet recommended standards; for example, 41.1% (117/285) did not signpost readers to sources of support, a quarter (69, 24.2%) included examples of sensational language and a third provided over-simplistic explanations for the suicidal behavior (93, 32.6%). While news reporting has improved compared to earlier coverage of suicide in the UK, it is essential that careful attention is paid to the quality and content of reports, especially as longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic develop.
ABSTRACT
BackgroundMost patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 have favourable outcomes, however some develop severe disease which may progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ failure, and death. Markers that could predict patients at risk of poor outcomes would be extremely useful clinically. Evidence has emerged that low lymphocyte count is associated with increased disease severity. MethodsWe performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between lymphocyte count and severity of SARS-CoV-2 associated clinical disease. ResultsSeven papers were included in the meta-analysis. These papers included data from 2083 patients, 25% (n=521) with severe SAR-CoV-2 disease and 75% (n=1562) with non-severe SAR-CoV-2 disease. Heterogenicity was seen in the definition of severe disease. Metanalysis produced metamedians of 1x109/L (95% CI 1-1.1) and 0.7x109/L (95% CI 0.63-0.8) lymphocytes for patients with non-severe and severe disease respectively (p-value of p=0.006 Wilcoxon test). Calculation of metamedians from the two papers classifying severe disease according to death alone gave 1.1 1x109/L lymphocytes (95% CI 1.0-1.1) for survivors (n=163) and 0.63 1x109/L lymphocytes (95% CI 0.60-0.63) for non-survivors (n=253) of SAR-CoV-2 disease. ConclusionsLower lymphocyte counts are significantly associated with more severe disease in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Lymphocytopenia may therefore be useful laboratory measure to allow prognostication of patients presenting with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
