Kim Dongyoung, Kim Pyoungsik
Korea Development Institute, 263, Namsejong-ro, Sejong-si, 30149, South Korea.
Korea Institute of Public Finance, 336, Sicheong-Daero, Sejong-si, South Korea.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Jan 24;25(1):297. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21565-2.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to public health crises beyond the direct casualties from the virus itself. This study assesses the impact of COVID-19 on suicide rates in South Korea, which implemented effective policy interventions against COVID-19 and has one of the highest suicide rates among member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
A county fixed effects model.
We analyze county-level data covering the 2017-2022 period from the National Statistical Office of Korea and use a county fixed effects model. The primary outcome is the suicide rate per 100,000 population. Our main analysis compares pre-pandemic suicide rates (2019) with those during the pandemic (2020-2022) at bimonthly frequency, focusing on the population aged 20-59 years.
We find that, in contrast to the initial global concerns about potential increases in suicide because of pandemic-related stress, suicide rates significantly decreased during the pandemic. However, this trend was not uniform: young women experienced fluctuating suicide rates, highlighting a demographic-specific impact. The study also finds that both people who died by suicide and people who died of other non-suicide causes were more likely to have a college diploma and were less likely to be married. Additionally, there are mixed results regarding the location of death. Overall, the pandemic appears to have had a complex effect on suicide behaviors in South Korea.
The findings underscore the need for targeted mental health interventions, especially for vulnerable groups such as young women. The findings also emphasize the importance of considering demographic-specific responses in public health strategies to better address the mental health consequences of large-scale crises.
新冠疫情引发了超出病毒本身直接伤亡的公共卫生危机。本研究评估了新冠疫情对韩国自杀率的影响，韩国实施了针对新冠疫情的有效政策干预措施，且在经济合作与发展组织（经合组织）成员国中自杀率位居前列。
县级固定效应模型。
我们分析了韩国国家统计局提供的涵盖2017 - 2022年期间的县级数据，并使用县级固定效应模型。主要结果是每10万人的自杀率。我们的主要分析以双月频率比较了疫情前（2019年）和疫情期间（2020 - 2022年）的自杀率，重点关注20 - 59岁的人群。
我们发现，与最初全球对疫情相关压力可能导致自杀率上升的担忧相反，疫情期间自杀率显著下降。然而，这一趋势并不一致：年轻女性的自杀率波动较大，凸显了特定人群的影响。该研究还发现，自杀死亡者和其他非自杀原因死亡者更有可能拥有大学文凭，结婚的可能性较小。此外，关于死亡地点的结果不一。总体而言，疫情似乎对韩国的自杀行为产生了复杂的影响。
研究结果强调了有针对性的心理健康干预措施的必要性，特别是针对年轻女性等弱势群体。研究结果还强调了在公共卫生战略中考虑特定人群应对措施以更好地应对大规模危机对心理健康影响的重要性。
