Pediatric Suspected Suicides and Nonfatal Suicide Attempts Reported to United States Poison Control Centers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction This study investigated the characteristics and compared the trends of pediatric suspected suicide and nonfatal suicide attempts reported to United States (US) poison control centers (PCCs) before and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods An interrupted time series analysis using an ARIMA model was conducted to evaluate the trends of suspected suicides and nonfatal suicide attempts among children 6–19 years old reported to the National Poison Data System during March 2020 through February 2021 (pandemic period) compared with March 2017 through February 2020 (pre-pandemic period). Results The annual number of cases of suspected suicides and nonfatal suicide attempts increased by 4.5% (6095/136,194) among children 6–19 years old during March 2020 through February 2021 compared with the average annual number during the previous three pre-pandemic years. There were 11,876 fewer cases than expected from March 2020 to February 2021, attributable to a decrease in cases during the initial three pandemic months. The average monthly and average daily number of suspected suicides and nonfatal suicide attempts among children 6–12 years old and 13–19 years old was higher during school months than non-school months and weekdays than weekends during both the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. Conclusions There was a greater than expected decrease in the number of suspected suicides and nonfatal suicide attempts among children 6–19 years old reported to US PCCs during the early pandemic months, followed by an increase in cases. Recognizing these patterns can help guide an appropriate public health response to similar future crises.

Self‐harm by single‐ and multi‐agent medication poisoning in a retrospective analysis of a Poison Control Center database from January 2018 to December 2022

“…The most likely explanation is the change in the healthcare system utilization in this peculiar time period, in Italy and many other countries, 28–30 presumably related to fear of exposure to the virus and to the restriction measures adopted. Also consistent is the increase of cases back to pre‐pandemic levels in the following months, identified in our data as starting in the first trimester of 2021, whereas other authors reported slightly earlier resumptions 21,22 . When subdividing our cases of interest in single‐ and multi‐agent cases, though, single‐agent self‐harm poisonings showed a linear increase after year 2020, with a peak in 2022 above pre‐pandemic levels (Table 1).…”

Suicidality Prevalence in a Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic: Relation to Social and Environmental Risk Factors

“…They have also reported that the incidence rate increase was higher among females and increased faster in mid-adolescence patients. Worryingly, during the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–2021), the number of suicide attempts by children and adolescents up to 18 years of age increased [ 37 ] along with an upward longitudinal trend of acute psychopathological symptoms, including depression, post-traumatic-stress disorder, and psychosis [ 10 ].…”

Can We Screen Parents Around the World About the Mental Health of Their Children? Yes, Just Ask

“…Clinicians can use these data to increase efforts to screen their pediatric patients for mental health problems using a variety of screening techniques to identify problems early in childhood and/or adolescence. Sensitive topics can be screened and dealt with as well, including suicidality, substance abuse, and gender identity . Clinicians, researchers, and parents are all in the same exciting and fascinating journey seeking to understand the mental health of children and learning to help them as much as possible for their overall maximal health as they experience life in this challenging 21st century.…”

“…Sensitive topics can be screened and dealt with as well, including suicidality, substance abuse, and gender identity. 1,[5][6][7][8][9][10] Clinicians, researchers, and parents are all in the same exciting and fascinating journey seeking to understand the mental health of children and learning to help them as much as possible for their overall maximal health as they experience life in this challenging 21st century. There is much clinicians can do for these parents and children; the encouragement and guidance from these respected researchers is greatly appreciated.…”

“…6 Tragically, an 86% increase in the rate of death by suicide has been reported for persons 10 to 19 years of age in the US between 2007 and 2017. 7 Since the survey by Kass et al took place during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 to 2022 and reports of mental health issues such as suicide reports to US poison control centers for individuals aged 6 to 19 years had variable patterns during this time, 8 one wonders what effects doing this parental survey during the pandemic may have had on the overall research results.…”