Faculty of Human Sciences, Wako University, Tokyo, Japan.
Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Crisis. 2022 Jul;43(4):315-322. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000797. Epub 2021 Jun 15.
Few studies have examined the effect of pandemics on suicide-related outcomes. We examined whether suicidal ideation levels among the general population changed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic by tracking individuals between January and April 2020. We used a prospective observational longitudinal design ( = 6,683) and stratified sampling to conduct online surveys of the general adult population in Japan before (baseline) and during the pandemic (follow-up). Suicidal ideation levels were significantly lower during than before the pandemic; however, the effect size was very small. Participants who were younger, with unstable employment, without children, with low income, and receiving psychiatric care were more likely to have higher suicidal ideation levels during the pandemic. Because this was an Internet survey and subject to selection bias, the sample was not necessarily representative of the Japanese population. At the time of the survey, COVID-19 cases and deaths in Japan were relatively lower than in other developed countries. The dropout rate may have affected the results. Although the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicidal ideation is limited, relatively young and economically vulnerable individuals are more likely to show exacerbated suicidal ideation during the pandemic.
很少有研究探讨过大流行病对自杀相关结果的影响。我们通过在 2020 年 1 月至 4 月期间跟踪个人，来研究由于 COVID-19 大流行，普通人群中的自杀意念水平是否发生了变化。我们使用前瞻性观察性纵向设计（n=6683）和分层抽样，在大流行之前（基线）和期间（随访）对日本普通成年人群进行了在线调查。自杀意念水平在大流行期间明显低于大流行之前；然而，效应量非常小。在大流行期间，年龄较小、就业不稳定、没有孩子、收入较低和接受精神科护理的参与者更有可能出现更高的自杀意念水平。由于这是一项互联网调查，存在选择偏差，因此样本不一定能代表日本人口。在调查时，日本的 COVID-19 病例和死亡人数相对低于其他发达国家。辍学率可能影响了结果。虽然 COVID-19 大流行对自杀意念的短期影响有限，但相对年轻和经济脆弱的个体在大流行期间更有可能表现出加重的自杀意念。
