Frontiers in Psychiatry (Jul 2022)

Quality and quantity of serious violent suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Tazio Maleitzke,
  • Tazio Maleitzke,
  • Tazio Maleitzke,
  • Dario Zocholl,
  • Tobias Topp,
  • Annika Dimitrov-Discher,
  • Elly Daus,
  • Gabriel Reaux,
  • Malin Zocholl,
  • Rolf Nicolas Conze,
  • Moritz Kolster,
  • Philipp Weber,
  • Florian Nima Fleckenstein,
  • Florian Nima Fleckenstein,
  • Louise Scheutz Henriksen,
  • Louise Scheutz Henriksen,
  • Ulrich Stöckle,
  • Thomas Fuchs,
  • Denis Gümbel,
  • Nikolai Spranger,
  • Alexander Ringk,
  • Sven Märdian

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.927696
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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BackgroundWhile repeated shutdown and lockdown measures helped contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and self-isolation negatively impacted global mental health in 2020 and 2021. Although suicide rates did reportedly not increase during the first months of the pandemic, long-term data, and data on the quality of serious violent suicide attempts (SVSAs) are not available to date.Materials and methodsOrthopaedic trauma patient visits to the emergency department (ED), ED trauma team activations, and SVSAs were retrospectively evaluated from January 2019 until May 2021 in four Level-I Trauma Centers in Berlin, Germany. SVSAs were assessed for suicide method, injury pattern and severity, type of treatment, and length of hospital stay.ResultsSignificantly fewer orthopaedic trauma patients presented to EDs during the pandemic (n = 70,271) compared to the control (n = 84,864) period (p = 0.0017). ED trauma team activation numbers remained unchanged. SVSAs (corrected for seasonality) also remained unchanged during control (n = 138) and pandemic (n = 129) periods, and no differences were observed for suicide methods, injury patterns, or length of hospital stay.ConclusionOur data emphasize that a previously reported rise in psychological stress during the COVID-19 pandemic does not coincide with increased SVSA rates or changes in quality of SVSAs.

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