Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Sep 2021)

Suicidality in Bangladeshi Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Behavioral Factors, COVID-19 Risk and Fear, and Mental Health Problems

  • Mamun MA,
  • Mamun FA,
  • Hosen I,
  • Hasan M,
  • Rahman A,
  • Jubayar AM,
  • Maliha Z,
  • Abdullah AH,
  • Sarker MA,
  • Kabir H,
  • Jyoti AS,
  • Kaggwa MM,
  • Sikder MT

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 4051 – 4061

Abstract

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Mohammed A Mamun,1,2 Firoj al Mamun,1,2 Ismail Hosen,1,2 Mahmudul Hasan,1,3 Abidur Rahman,1,3 Ahsanul Mahbub Jubayar,1,3 Zeba Maliha,1,4 Abu Hasnat Abdullah,1,2 Md Abedin Sarker,1,2 Humayun Kabir,1,5 Avijit Sarker Jyoti,6 Mark Mohan Kaggwa,7,8 Md Tajuddin Sikder2 1CHINTA Research Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 2Department of Public Health and Informatics, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh; 4Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College, Faridpur, Bangladesh; 5Department of Public Health, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 6Mugda Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 7Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science & Technology, Mbarara, Uganda; 8African Centre for Suicide Prevention and Research, Mbarara, UgandaCorrespondence: Mohammed A Mamun Tel +880 1738592653Email [email protected]: It is said that psychological stressors have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may contribute to suicidality. A few studies were conducted investigating suicidality amid the first wave of the pandemic in Bangladesh, but none of these studies explored the predictive role of the suicidality-related factors (eg, behavior and health-related variables, COVID-19 risk, fear of COVID-19). Thus, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of suicidality and the predictive models explaining suicidality variance among Bangladeshi young adults during the second wave of the pandemic.Methods: An online-based cross-sectional survey was conducted during the second wave of the pandemic (between 1 and 13 April 2021; a year after the pandemic’s inception in the country). The survey questionnaire collected information on socio-demographics, behavior and health-related variables, COVID-19 risk, fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, and suicidality. A total of 756 data were analyzed (male 59%; mean age 22.24 ± 4.39 years), and hierarchical regression was performed considering suicidality as the dependent variable. A p-value < 0.05 was set to be statistically significant with a 95% of confidence interval.Results: About 8.2% reported having at least suicidal thoughts within the pandemic inception to survey time (one-year suicidal ideation). More specifically, 7.40% had only suicidal ideation, whereas 0.10% planned for suicide, 0.70% attempted suicide. None of the socio-demographic variables was significantly associated with suicidality. Taking drugs, performing less physical activity, poor self-reporting health condition, being comorbid, being at higher COVID-19 risk, having fear of COVID-19 infection, and suffering from depression and anxiety were significantly associated with a higher risk of suicidality. However, the final model including all of the studied variables explained a 17.1% (F=8.245, p< 0.001) variance in terms of suicidality.Conclusion: Although this study reported a lower severity of suicidality than prior Bangladeshi studies conducted during the first wave of the pandemic, a portion of people are still at risk of suicide and they should be given attention.Keywords: COVID-19 suicide, psychological impact, suicide, self-harm, depression, fear of COVID-19, Bangladeshi youths

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