Youth suicide rates increased during COVID-19 pandemic

Youth suicide rates increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native and non-Hispanic Black youths, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

“To our knowledge, no national study examined changes in youth suicide rates that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jeffrey A. Bridge, PhD, director of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research, part of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said in a press release. “We wanted to a see if there were any changes in the youth suicide rate that occurred and whether these changes happened with the onset of the pandemic.”

Bridge and colleagues searched CDC data for people aged 5 to 24 years between 2015 and 2020 with suicide listed as the cause of death. They defined the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as March 2020.

There were 5,568 youth suicides during the pandemic period in 2020, which the researchers identified as a significant increase in overall observed vs. expected youth suicides (RR = 1.04, 95% CI, 1.01-1.07) equivalent to 212 excess deaths.

Males comprised 79.2% of the study group (RR = 1.05, 95% CI, 1.02–1.08). There also were higher than expected suicide deaths rates for youth aged 5 to 12 years (RR = 1.20, 95% CI, 1.03-1.41) and 18 to 24 years (RR =1.05, 95% CI. 1.02-1.08), non-Hispanic American Indian /Alaskan Native youth (RR = 1.20, 95% CI, 1.03-1.39) and Black youth (RR = 1.20, 95% CI, 1.12-1.29).

The study was accompanied by a companion article that discussed an exploratory study conducted by researchers from the National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention at the Michigan Public Health Institute.

The Michigan researchers used data from the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System to find 552 suicides among youth aged between 10 and 17 years from 2020 to 2021. Reportedly, 144 were defined as COVID-19-impacted suicides, and COVID-19-impacted youth also experienced significantly more isolation than their nonimpacted peers (60% vs. 14%). COVID-19-impacted youth also reported more school problems (42% vs. 19%), depression (43% vs. 24%) and/or anxiety disorder (23% vs. 12%) diagnoses than their nonimpacted peers.

“As pandemic restrictions ease and the threat of severe illness and death because of COVID-19 fades, it is important not to lose sight of the potential for ongoing increased risk of mental health crises and suicide among youth,” the authors wrote.

References:

Bridge JA, et al. Pediatrics. 2023;doi:10.1542/peds.2022-058375.

Schnitzer PG, et al. Pediatrics. 2023;doi:10.1542/peds.2022-058716.

Youth suicide rates increased during COVID-19 pandemic, especially among particular subgroups. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/979756. Published Feb. 15, 2023. Accessed Feb. 15, 2023.