Examining the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and self-harm death counts in four Canadian provinces

  1. Shelly Isnar
  2. Mark Oremus

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Abstract

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  1. Version published to 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114433
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.10.13.21264961: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    To conduct the analyses, we used R v4.0.4 (The R Project for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) and the following R packages: AER, BlandAltmanLeh, forecast, lubridate,
    R Project for Statistical
    suggested: (R Project for Statistical Computing, RRID:SCR_001905)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Interestingly, we did not find any published studies looking at associations between LSI/COVID-19 case counts and SHD. 4.3 Strengths and Limitations: The major strength of this study is the utilization of publicly available, population-level data from four Canadian provinces to conduct the analyses. These data spanned the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods, thereby allowing us to compare SHD counts before and after the pandemic’s effects were felt in Canada. However, since ex post facto interviews are impossible to conduct on persons who suffer a SHD, we could not examine the extent to which lockdowns or COVID-19 case numbers may have influenced specific SHDs. Further, SHD data for 2020 could underreport true SHD counts as a result of possibly misclassifying SHD as accidental poisonings, alcohol-induced deaths, or illicit drug deaths (McIntyre et al., 2021). 4.4 Policy Suggestions: While we did not find evidence of a COVID-19 impact on SHD, accessibility to mental health services should continue to be a health priority. The various factors responsible for reducing SHD during the pandemic may become less important as COVID-19 becomes endemic and societal structures re-open. Thus, SHD may eventually climb to pre-pandemic levels and mental health services will be required to address the increase.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.10.13.21264961 on medRxiv