University of Michigan researchers have dug deeper into the numbers-only data of COVID-19-era suicides and evaluated the narratives contained in reports from coroners, medical examiners, police and vital statistics.
The researchers sought to understand how the crisis influenced suicide deaths in the first year of the pandemic, how the response by governments, employers and others influenced individuals, and if their handling could inform future public health responses.
The researchers used the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System, which compiles death reports and vital statistics and uses that information to write text narratives that describe the circumstances in the person’s life at the time of their death.
According to the researchers, the CDC launched the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) to address this data gap and provide information that can reveal interactions between individual and macro-correlates of suicide.
The outcome is that the COVID-19 pandemic did not lead to an excess in suicide mortality in 2020.
In looking at the narratives, the researchers found that the reasons behind the suicides are complex and that mental health may have been overlooked as the crisis unfolded.
The analysis also points to the need for better coordination, support by employers, communities, public health leaders in future crises, especially in relation to mental health.
According to lead researcher Briana Mezuk, professor of epidemiology: “We felt it was important to delve into the narratives of these deaths, rather than using numbers alone, to learn what roles the pandemic and the public health response to the pandemic might have played in these lost lives.”
In looking at the deaths of individuals aged ten years old and above, the researchers found that 6.8 percent of suicide deaths in 2020, representing 2,502 cases, described an aspect of the pandemic, and 20 percent had no known circumstances described in death reports.
Although many individuals experienced heightened emotional distress during that time, and some had feared this would lead to greater suicide mortality in 2020, no overall increase materialized in most countries, including the U.S.
Nonetheless, research into the causes of suicide and with building mental health support remains a priority in the U.S.and other countries with similar rates.
The study appears in the journal Public Library for Science One. The research is titled “Psychosocial and pandemic-related circumstances of suicide deaths in 2020: Evidence from the National Violent Death Reporting System”.
