No evidence of increase in suicide in Greece during the first wave of Covid-19

  1. Sotiris Vandoros
  2. Olga Theodorikakou
  3. Kyriakos Katsadoros
  4. Dimitra Zafeiropoulou
  5. Ichiro Kawachi

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Abstract

Background and Objective

Mental health outcomes have reportedly worsened in several countries during the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns. In the present study we examined whether suicides increased in Greece during the first wave of the pandemic.

Methods

We used daily suicide estimates from a Suicide Observatory in Greece from 2015-2020 and followed three methodologies: A descriptive approach, an interrupted time series analysis, and a differences-in-differences econometric model.

Results

We did not find any empirical evidence of any increase in suicides during the first wave of Covid-19 and the lockdown in any of the three approaches used.

Conclusions

Suicides did not seem to increase during the first wave of covid-19 and lockdown in Greece. However, this does not mean that mental health did not deteriorate, or that we will not observe an increase in suicides during the second wave. Protective factors for Greece during the first wave may include working from home (for those able to tele-work), strong family ties, advertising of a suicide hotline and income support for the unemployed.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.13.20231571: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    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:
    This study is subject to limitations. The dataset used included preliminary data available from the Suicide Prevention Observatory, rather than final official data. Furthermore, as the unit of observation was the total number of suicides per day, we could not account for individual characteristics, or for particular individual circumstances. In addition, we could not know whether reporting was in any way affected by the pandemic. Most of the world is now going through the second wave of the pandemic. As the death toll increases, new lockdowns are being introduced and economic conditions worsen. Fatigue may be accumulating, while more people are also experiencing job loss or financial trouble, possibly resulting in even worse mental health outcomes that in the first wave. Particularly in Greece, the second wave is demonstrating a steep increase in confirmed cases and deaths,[30] which could potentially lead to a totally different effect on suicides compared to the first wave. It is important that policy makers introduce relevant policies to respond appropriately to this mental health crisis facing our societies.38 These may include policies focusing directly on mental health,39 but also those targeting the root of the problem, such as unemployment and social safety nets.40-41 A 4-digit suicide prevention hotline in Greece might have played a protective role with regards to suicides during the first wave. Memorable numbers might be of particular help in times of crisis, and oth...

    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.

    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.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.11.13.20231571 on medRxiv