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

Mohammed A Mamun; Firoj Al Mamun; Ismail Hosen; Mahmudul Hasan; Abidur Rahman; Ahsanul Mahbub Jubayar; Zeba Maliha; Abu Hasnat Abdullah; Md Abedin Sarker; Humayun Kabir; Avijit Sarker Jyoti; Mark Mohan Kaggwa; Md Tajuddin Sikder

doi:10.2147/RMHP.S330282

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

Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2021 Sep 29:14:4051-4061. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S330282. eCollection 2021.

Authors

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 Jyoti⁶, Mark Mohan Kaggwa^{7

8}, Md Tajuddin Sikder²

Affiliations

¹ CHINTA Research Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
² Department of Public Health and Informatics, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
⁴ Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College, Faridpur, Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Public Health, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁶ Mugda Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science & Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
⁸ African Centre for Suicide Prevention and Research, Mbarara, Uganda.

Abstract

Background: 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: Bangladeshi youths; COVID-19 suicide; depression; fear of COVID-19; psychological impact; self-harm; suicide.

Grants and funding

The present study did not get any financial support.