Following a drop in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of young individuals with suicidal thoughts and behaviors visiting an emergency department (ED) showed resurgence, stated a cross-sectional study conducted at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

The results are in line with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published a few months back in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that evaluated these trends in young people aged between 12 and 25 years prior to and during the pandemic. The new data, published in JAMA Psychiatry, suggest that efforts aimed at prevention might help these young people and their families.

Investigators assessed suicide-related ED visits among children, 5-17 years of age, presenting to EDs in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California system and compared four periods in 2020 with the same periods in 2019. From March to May 2020, the incidence rate ratio (IRR) of suicide-related ED visits among children and adolescents were found to drop by over 40% (IRR, 0.53) compared to the same months in 2019. From June through August and September to December 15, suicide-related ED visits escalated, reaching prepandemic levels, though there were differences between genders. Among girls, an increase in the first period was significant (IRR, 1.19) and rose even higher in the second period (hazard ratio, 1.22)… (Medscape)