Suicide by gender and 10-year age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic vs previous five years in Japan: An analysis of national vital statistics

Akifumi Eguchi; Shuhei Nomura; Stuart Gilmour; Nahoko Harada; Haruka Sakamoto; Peter Ueda; Daisuke Yoneoka; Yuta Tanoue; Takayuki Kawashima; Takehiko I Hayashi; Yuzo Arima; Motoi Suzuki; Masahiro Hashizume

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114173

Suicide by gender and 10-year age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic vs previous five years in Japan: An analysis of national vital statistics

Psychiatry Res. 2021 Nov:305:114173. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114173. Epub 2021 Aug 21.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sustainable Health Science, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan; Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
² Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: nom3.shu@gmail.com.
³ Graduate School of Public Health, St. Luke's International University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing, School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan.
⁵ Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Clinical Epidemiology Division, Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁷ Institute for Business and Finance, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Department of Mathematical and Computing Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
⁹ Division of Social and Systems Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Ibaraki, Japan.
¹⁰ Center for Surveillance, Immunization, and Epidemiologic Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Using daily vital statistics data from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, we provide the first weekly and age-group-specific estimates of the additional suicide burden during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan by gender, from January through November 2020. Our results indicate that compared with the previous five years, suicide cases in 2020 in Japan have increased from late July to November for women in all age groups and for men in the 20-29 and 80+ years age group. Targeted interventions based on age and gender might be more effective in reducing suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

Keywords: COVID-19; Japan; Suicide.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Comment

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Japan / epidemiology
Male
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2
Suicide*
Vital Statistics*