Is the COVID-19 pandemic a risk factor for suicide attempts in adolescent girls?

Gracia, Rebeca; Pamias, Montse; Mortier, Philippe; Alonso, Jordi; Pérez, Víctor; Palao, Diego

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic might increase suicide behaviors. However, results are still limited and inconclusive, especially in adolescents. METHODS To provide a preliminary evidence of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide attempts (SA), we compared data from the Catalonia Suicide Risk Code (CRSC), during the first 12 months of Spain COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to March 2021) with data of the previous 12 months (March 2019 to March 2020). The CRSC is a well-established population-based registry of suicide attempts (SA) which allows monitoring of the dynamic changes that COVID-19 may produce in a Spanish region. RESULTS SA among adolescents increased 25% during the COVID-year, whatever, SA among adults decreased 16,5% in the same period. The increase of SA in girls was especially prominent in the starting school period in the COVID-year (September 2020-March 2021), where the increase reached 195%. LIMITATIONS This study did not evaluate other individual risk factors of SA in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, so is unable to make concrete causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS These finding suggest that SA increased in adolescent girls during the last period of the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring the need to implement effective preventive measures by public health systems and stakeholders into response during this public health crisis.