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KMID : 0365220210580020001
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Korean Journal of Public Health
2021 Volume.58 No. 2 p.1 ~ p.12
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Excess deaths on suicide during COVID-19 in South Korea
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Park Hae-Min
Paek Do-Myung
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Abstract
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Objectives: COVID-19 has disrupted peoples’ lives in various ways. Especially, social distancing measures have isolated peoples, families, and communities from each other, and the concerns for mental health issue have been raised. In this study, we assessed the excess deaths from suicide to shed light on the mental health impact during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: The time-series suicide deaths data from 2015-2019 were used in the quasi-Poisson generalized linear models. Based on sex and age, suicide deaths from February 2020 to March 2021 were predicted. For each sex, the predicted deaths from suicide, the counterfactual of COVID-19, were compared with the observed deaths.
Results: Men and women had different aspects of excess deaths from suicide. For men, deficit in suicide was observed during March, April, May, June, September of 2020 and January, February of 2021, just after the peak of each wave. Instead, for women, an excess of 19.69% (95% CI: 2.41, 43.98) in deaths from suicide was observed in January 2021.
Conclusion: Deficits from the ‘pulling together effect’ in the times of disastrous difficulties were suspected of men, while excesses from familial and social strains seemed to be more prominent for women. The vulnerabilities to suicide should be scrutinized based on gender, and the countermeasures against COVID-19 should be implemented taking this into account.
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KEYWORD
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COVID-19, pandemic, suicide, excess deaths, mental health
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