Suicide and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is an unprecedented public health crisis, but its effect on suicide deaths is little understood. Methods: We analyzed data from monthly suicide statistics between January 2017 and October 2020 and from online surveys on mental health filled out by the general population in Japan. Results: Compared to the 2017–19 period, the number of suicide deaths during the initial phase of the pandemic was lower than average but exceeded the past trend from July 2020. Female suicides, whose numbers increased by approximately 70% in October 2020 (incidence rate ratio: 1.695, 95% confidence interval: 1.558–1.843), were the main source of this increase. The largest increase was found among young women (less than 40 years of age). Our survey data indicated that the status of young women’s mental health has been deteriorating in recent months and that young female workers were more likely to have experienced a job or income loss than any other group, suggesting adverse economic conditions surrounding them. Conclusions: Continuous monitoring of mental health, particularly that of the most vulnerable populations identified in this study, and appropriate suicide prevention efforts are necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Japan is an exception: falls in Japanese suicide rates in the early months of the pandemic have since been replaced by rises above pre-pandemic levels from July/August 2020 and beyond.
“Japan is the exception to this rule, falls in Japanese suicide rates in the early months of the pandemic have since been replaced by rises above pre-pandemic levels July/August 2020 and beyond ( John et al., 2020a; Tanaka & Okamoto, 2021; Ueda et al., 2021).”
From The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-harm and suicidal behaviour: update of living systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Ueda et al., 2021
Compared with August in 2017-19, figures for August 2020 were increased by 7.7%, with rises particularly in females and people aged <40 years.
“Similarly compared with August in 2017–19, figures for August 2020 were increased by 7.7%, with rises particularly in females and people aged <40 years ( Ueda et al., 2021).”
From The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-harm and suicidal behaviour: update of living systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Ueda et al., 2021
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- Authors
- Ueda, M., Nordström, R., & Matsubayashi, T.
- Affiliations
- Waseda University (JP)
- Faculty of Political Science and Economics , Waseda University, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-8050, Japan
- The University of Osaka (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Ueda, Michiko
- Venue
- Journal of Public Health
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2021-04-13
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 541-548
- ISSN
- 0943-1853 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-3842
- 1741-3850
- PMC
- PMC8083330
- OpenAlex
- W3156713668
- Cited by
- 180
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 59 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 26.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (20H01584, 23K20166)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- suicide, COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, female suicide, young women, economic conditions, suicide prevention, Japan
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Female, Humans, Japan, Mental Health, Suicide, Pandemics
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