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Original Article
COVID-19 | Psychosocial

Suicide attempts presenting to the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study

Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine 2022;9(2):120-127.
Published online: June 30, 2022

1Department of Emergency Medicine, Myongji Hospital, Goyang, Korea

2Department of Emergency Medicine, Myongji Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea

3Department of Applied Statistics, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence to: Juyoung Choi Department of Emergency Medicine, Myongji Hospital, 55 Hwasu-ro 14beon-gil, Deogyang-gu, Goyang 10475, Korea E-mail: portcall@mjh.or.kr
• Received: May 27, 2021   • Revised: November 13, 2021   • Accepted: January 10, 2022

Copyright © 2022 The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  Crossref logo
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  • Prevalence and analysis of Amussat’s, Martin’s and Simon’s signs in suicide by hanging in socio-demographic context in the Poznan metropolitan area and surrounding provinces in Poland in 2007–2022
    Piotr Adamski, Marta Golik, Piotr Kawalec, Maria Krzemińska, Julia Malinowska, Sandra Przybysz, Jan Radomski, Szymon Rzepczyk, Klaudia Dolińska-Kaczmarek, Paweł Świderski, Czesław Żaba, Bartosz Burchardt
    Legal Medicine.2025; 76: 102656.     CrossRef
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    Eugene Lee, Peter J Schulz, Hye Eun Lee
    Journal of Medical Internet Research.2024; 26: e45563.     CrossRef
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    Minerva Psychiatry.2024;[Epub]     CrossRef
  • Factors associated with refusal of transport to hospital among patients experiencing suicidal crisis in South Korea
    Hang A. Park, Choung Ah Lee
    Heliyon.2024; 10(20): e38451.     CrossRef
  • An Evaluation of the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Hanging Cases
    Serbülent Kılıç, Ayşen Zeybek, Melih Yüksel, Musa Şahin
    Global Emergency and Critical Care.2023; 2(2): 63.     CrossRef
  • Epidemiology of suicide attempts and self-harm in emergency departments: a report from the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) of Korea, 2018–2022
    Kwang Yul Jung, Taehui Kim, Young Sun Ro
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  • Factors affecting patients who attempted suicide in the emergency department due to the prolonged pandemic of COVID-19
    Hyunji Kim, Areum Durey, Soo Kang, Won Kyung Lee, Ji Hye Kim, Seung Baik Han, Yu Jin Lee
    Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine.2023; 10(4): 418.     CrossRef

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Suicide attempts presenting to the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study
Clin Exp Emerg Med. 2022;9(2):120-127.   Published online June 30, 2022
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Suicide attempts presenting to the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study
Clin Exp Emerg Med. 2022;9(2):120-127.   Published online June 30, 2022
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Suicide attempts presenting to the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study
Image
Fig. 1. Study population. ED, emergency department.
Suicide attempts presenting to the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study
Characteristic 2019 (n=209) 2020 (n=247) Total (n=456) P-value
Age (yr) 0.251
 ≤ 20 35 (16.7) 46 (18.6) 81 (17.8)
 21–40 68 (32.5) 99 (40.1) 167 (36.6)
 41–60 77 (36.8) 67 (27.1) 144 (31.6)
 61–80 24 (11.5) 29 (11.7) 53 (11.6)
 ≥ 81 5 (2.4) 6 (2.4) 11 (2.4)
Sex 0.827
 Female 141 (67.5) 169 (68.4) 310 (68.0)
 Male 68 (32.5) 78 (31.6) 146 (32.0)
Methods of suicide attempt 0.001
 Overdose 88 (42.1) 132 (53.4) 220 (48.2)
 Gas inhalation 12 (5.7) 21 (8.5) 33 (7.2)
 Hanging 13 (6.2) 5 (2.0) 18 (3.9)
 Cutting 59 (28.2) 63 (25.5) 122 (26.8)
 Taking poison 30 (14.4) 12 (4.9) 42 (9.2)
 Idea only 3 (1.4) 7 (2.8) 10 (2.2)
 Jumping 4 (1.9) 7 (2.8) 11 (2.4)
Health insurance 0.438
 National health insurance 193 (92.3) 223 (90.3) 416 (91.2)
 Medical aid 16 (7.7) 24 (9.7) 40 (8.8)
Endotracheal intubation 0.003
 Done 29 (13.9) 14 (5.7) 43 (9.4)
 Not done 180 (86.1) 233 (94.3) 413 (90.6)
Disposition 0.001
 Discharge 117 (56.0) 179 (72.5) 296 (64.9)
 General ward 29 (13.9) 31 (12.6) 60 (13.2)
 Intensive care unit 62 (29.7) 36 (14.6) 98 (21.5)
 Death 1 (0.5) 1 (0.4) 2 (0.4)
Characteristic 2019 (n = 139) 2020 (n = 144) Total (n = 283) P-value
Previous attempt 0.586
 Presence 74 (53.2) 72 (50.0) 146 (51.6)
 Absence 65 (46.8) 72 (50.0) 137 (48.4)
Mental illness 0.005
 Presence 75 (54.0) 101 (70.1) 176 (62.2)
 Absence 64 (46.0) 43 (29.9) 107 (37.8)
Cause 0.102
 Medical 3 (2.2) 6 (4.2) 9 (3.2)
 Economical 16 (11.5) 19 (13.2) 35 (12.4)
 Relationships 96 (69.1) 80 (55.6) 176 (62.2)
 Worsening mental illness 24 (17.3) 39 (27.1) 63 (22.3)
Occupation 0.574
 Employed 42 (30.2) 48 (33.3) 90 (31.8)
 Unemployed 77 (55.4) 71 (49.3) 148 (52.3)
 Adolescent 20 (14.4) 25 (17.4) 45 (15.9)
Family 0.768
 Live together 112 (80.6) 118 (81.9) 230 (81.3)
 Live alone 27 (19.4) 26 (18.1) 53 (18.7)
Characteristic Discharged (n = 296) Admission or death (n = 160) P-valuea) OR (95% CI) P-valueb)
Age (yr) < 0.001
≤ 20 69 (85.2) 12 (14.8) Reference
21–40 108 (64.7) 59 (35.3) 3.14 (1.58–6.26) 0.001
41–60 90 (62.5) 54 (37.5) 3.45 (1.71–6.95) 0.001
61–80 24 (45.3) 29 (54.7) 6.95 (3.07–15.74) < 0.001
≥ 81 5 (45.5) 6 (54.5) 6.90 (1.81–26.24) 0.005
Sex 0.102
Female 209 (67.4) 101 (32.6) Reference
Male 87 (59.6) 59 (40.4) 1.40 (0.93–2.11) 0.103
Methods of suicide attempt < 0.001
Overdose 141 (64.1) 79 (35.9) Reference
Gas inhalation 17 (51.5) 16 (48.5) 1.68 (0.81–3.51) 0.167
Hanging 7 (38.9) 11 (61.1) 2.81 (1.05–7.52) 0.041
Cutting 106 (86.9) 16 (13.1) 0.27 (0.15–0.49) < 0.001
Taking poison 13 (31.0) 29 (69.0) 3.98 (1.96–8.10) < 0.001
Idea only 8 (80.0) 2 (20.0) 0.45 (0.92–2.15) 0.315
Fall 4 (36.4) 7 (63.6) 3.12 (0.89–11.00) 0.076
Health insurance 0.169
National health insurance 274 (65.9) 142 (34.1) Reference
Medical aid 22 (55.0) 18 (45.0) 1.58 (0.82–3.04) 0.172
Previous attemptc) 0.130
Presence 102 (69.9) 44 (30.1) Reference
Absence 84 (61.3) 53 (38.7) 1.46 (0.89–2.40) 0.131
Mental illnessc) 0.874
None 58 (65.2) 31 (34.8) Reference
Anxiety 21 (67.7) 10 (32.3) 0.89 (0.37–2.13) 0.793
Sleep disorder 5 (83.3) 1 (16.7) 0.37 (0.04–3.35) 0.379
Alcohol dependency 7 (58.3) 5 (41.7) 1.34 (0.39–4.56) 0.643
Depression 83 (66.9) 41 (33.1) 0.92 (0.52–1.64) 0.788
Personality disorder 2 (50.0) 2 (50.0) 1.87 (0.25–13.93) 0.541
Bipolar 9 (64.3) 5 (35.7) 1.04 (0.32–3.37) 0.949
Schizophrenia 1 (33.3) 2 (66.7) 3.74 (0.33–42.92) 0.289
Occupationc) 0.005
Employed 57 (63.3) 33 (36.7) Reference
Unemployed 90 (60.8) 58 (39.2) 1.11 (0.65–1.91) 0.698
Adolescent 39 (86.7) 6 (13.3) 0.27 (0.10–0.69) 0.007
Familyc) 0.789
Live together 152 (66.1) 78 (33.9) Reference
Live alone 34 (64.2) 19 (35.8) 1.09 (0.58–2.03) 0.789
Table 1. Demographic and clinical characteristics

Values are presented as number (%).

Table 2. Sociodemographic characteristics

Values are presented as number (%).

Table 3. Characteristics according to admission or death

Values are presented as number (%).

OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Chi square test.

Binominal logistic regression analysis.

Data were available in 283 cases (186 discharged and 97 admission or death).