Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 295, January 2021, 113622
Psychiatry Research

Short communication
Trends in suicide in Japan by gender during the COVID-19 pandemic, up to September 2020

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113622Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Suicide is an extreme consequence of the psychological burden of COVID-19.

  • We estimated the burden of suicide death related to COVID-19 in Japan.

  • Our study found excess suicide deaths among women in July, August and September.

  • COVID-19 related suicide prevention is an important priority, especially for women.

Abstract

Suicide is an extreme consequence of the psychological burden associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) counter-measures. A quasi-Poisson regression was applied to monthly suicide mortality data obtained from the National Police Agency to estimate the gender-specific excess/exiguous suicide deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan up to September 2020. We found excess suicide deaths among women in July, August and September, but not among men. Our results indicate the importance of COVID-19 related suicide prevention, especially for women. Timely access to mental health care and financial and social support is urgently needed, as is optimal treatment for mental illness.

Keywords

Japan
COVID-19
suicide

Cited by (0)

1

Shared co-first authorship.