Psychosocial and pandemic-related circumstances of suicide deaths in 2020: Evidence from the National Violent Death Reporting System

by Briana Mezuk, Viktoryia Kalesnikava, Aparna Ananthasubramaniam, Annalise Lane, Alejandro Rodriguez-Putnam, Lily Johns, Courtney Bagge, Sarah Burgard, Kara Zivin

Purpose

To describe and explore variation in ‘pandemic-related circumstances’ among suicide decedents during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We identified pandemic-related circumstances using decedents’ text narratives in the 2020 National Violent Death Reporting System. We use time-series analysis to compare other psychosocial characteristics (e.g., mental health history, interpersonal difficulties, financial strain) of decedents pre-pandemic (2017/2018: n = 56,968 suicide and n = 7,551 undetermined deaths) to those in 2020 (n = 31,887 suicide and n = 4,100 undetermined). We characterize common themes in the narratives with pandemic-related circumstances using topic modeling, and explore variation in topics by age and other psychosocial circumstances.

Results

In 2020, n = 2,502 (6.98%) narratives described pandemic-related circumstances. Compared to other deaths in 2020 and to the pre-pandemic period, decedents with pandemic-related circumstances were older and more highly educated. Common themes of pandemic-related circumstances narratives included: concerns about shutdown restrictions, financial losses, and infection risk. Relative to decedents of the same age that did not have pandemic-related circumstances in 2020, those with pandemic-related circumstances were more likely to also have financial (e.g., for 25–44 years, 43% vs. 12%) and mental health (76% vs. 66%) psychosocial circumstances, but had similar or lower prevalence of substance abuse (47% vs. 49%) and interpersonal (40% vs. 42%) circumstances.

Conclusions

While descriptive, these findings help contextualize suicide mortality during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and can inform mental health promotion efforts during similar public health emergencies.