• J R Soc Med · Oct 2021

    Multicenter Study

    Suicide reduction in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons informing national prevention strategies for suicide reduction.

    • Roger S McIntyre, Leanna Mw Lui, Joshua D Rosenblat, Roger Ho, Hartej Gill, Rodrigo B Mansur, Kayla Teopiz, Yuhua Liao, Ciyong Lu, Mehala Subramaniapillai, Flora Nasri, and Yena Lee.
    • Mood Disorder Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, Canada.
    • J R Soc Med. 2021 Oct 1; 114 (10): 473-479.

    ObjectiveThe objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of federal, public health and social support programs on national suicide rates in Canada.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingCanadian National Database (i.e., Statistics Canada) and Statista.ParticipantsPopulation-level data, and economic and consumer market data.Main Outcome MeasuresSuicide mortality data, population data and unemployment data were obtained from available statistical databases (e.g. Statistics Canada). We quantified suicide rate by dividing the total number of suicide deaths by the national population expressed as a rate per 100,000 population.ResultsOverall suicide mortality rate decreased in Canada from 10.82 deaths per 100,000 in the March 2019 - February 2020 period to 7.34 per 100,000 (i.e. absolute difference of 1300 deaths) in the March 2020 - February 2021 period. The overall Canadian unemployment rate changed from an average monthly rate of 5.7% in 2019 to 9.5% in 2020.ConclusionOur results indicate that for the first post-pandemic interval evaluated (i.e., March 2020 - February 2021), suicide rates in Canada decreased against a background of extraordinary public health measures intended to mitigate community spread of COVID-19. An externality of public health measures was a significant rise in national unemployment rates in population measures of distress. Our results suggest that government interventions that broadly aim to reduce measures of insecurity (i.e., economic, housing, health), and timely psychiatric services, should be prioritised as part of a national suicide reduction strategy, not only during but after termination of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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