Lee Gi Eun, Kim Jong Won, Lee Kyeong Ryong, Hong Dae Young, Park Sang O, Kim Sin Young, Baek Kwang Je, Jeon Hong Jun
Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, Konkuk University, Konkuk University Medical Center, Republic of Korea.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Konkuk University, Konkuk University Medical Center, Republic of Korea.
BJPsych Open. 2022 Sep 8;8(5):e166. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2022.569.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a major threat to mental health and is associated with an increased risk of suicide. An understanding of suicidal behaviours during the pandemic is necessary for establishing policies to prevent suicides in such social conditions.
We aimed to investigate vulnerable individuals and the characteristics of changes in suicidal behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with suicide attempts who visited the emergency department from February 2019 to January 2021. We analysed the demographic and clinical characteristics, risk factors and rescue factors of patients, and compared the findings between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.
In total, 519 patients were included. During the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, 303 and 270 patients visited the emergency department after a suicide attempt, respectively. The proportion of suicide attempts by women (60.1% . 69.3%, = 0.035) and patients with a previous psychiatric illness (63.4% . 72.9%, = 0.006) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, patients' rescue scores during the pandemic were lower than those during the pre-pandemic period (12 (interquartile range: 11-13) . 13 (interquartile range: 12-14), < 0.001).
Women and people with previous psychiatric illnesses were more vulnerable to suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicide prevention policies, such as continuous monitoring and staying in touch with vulnerable individuals, are necessary to cope with suicide risk.
新冠疫情对心理健康构成重大威胁，并与自杀风险增加相关。了解疫情期间的自杀行为对于制定在此类社会状况下预防自杀的政策至关重要。
我们旨在调查新冠疫情期间的脆弱个体以及自杀行为变化的特征。
我们回顾性分析了2019年2月至2021年1月到急诊科就诊的自杀未遂患者的病历。我们分析了患者的人口统计学和临床特征、危险因素和救助因素，并比较了疫情前和疫情期间的结果。
共纳入519例患者。在疫情前和疫情期间，分别有303例和270例患者在自杀未遂后到急诊科就诊。新冠疫情期间，女性（60.1%对69.3%，P = 0.035）和既往有精神疾病的患者（63.4%对72.9%，P = 0.006）自杀未遂的比例有所增加。此外，疫情期间患者的救助得分低于疫情前（12（四分位间距：11 - 13）对13（四分位间距：12 - 14），P < 0.001）。
在新冠疫情期间，女性和既往有精神疾病的人更容易出现自杀未遂。需要采取自杀预防政策，如持续监测以及与脆弱个体保持联系，以应对自杀风险。
