Associations between lockdown intensity and suicide mortality in US states

Konstantinos Christopoulos

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101544

Associations between lockdown intensity and suicide mortality in US states

SSM Popul Health. 2023 Oct 31:24:101544. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101544. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Author

Konstantinos Christopoulos¹

Affiliation

¹ University of Piraeus, 80 Karaoli & Dimitriou Street, Piraeus, 185 34, Greece.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with oppressive government interventions, placed a heavy burden on mental health. Suicide mortality is an outcome that may have been affected by the stringency of these lockdown measures. The aim of this study is to examine the association between lockdown intensity, measured by the Stringency Index, and suicide mortality rates in US states from March 2020 to December 2021. To this end, Bayesian methods were used for the estimation of the association for the total population, as well as by gender, and by race. Results show a small negative association between lockdown intensity and suicide mortality rates which applies to most of the examined populations. Future research will determine if this relationship remains the same after the pandemic.

Keywords: Bayesian methods; COVID-19; Stringency Index; Suicide; United States.