IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON SUICIDE ATTEMPT REPORTING WORLDWIDE-ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC DATA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31435/ijitss.1(49).2026.5107Keywords:
COVID-19 Pandemic, Suicide, Suicide Attempts, Suicide Attempt Reporting, Mental Health SurveillanceAbstract
The review examined how the COVID-19 pandemic affected reporting of suicide attempts worldwide, using publicly available epidemiological, administrative, and surveillance data. We integrated findings from systematic reviews and meta-analyses, national time series from European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, World Health Organization (WHO) mortality statistics, and country-level registries, with particular attention to Central-Eastern Europe. Data sources included health care utilization records, emergency department presentations, police and administrative databases, and real-time or near-real-time suicide surveillance systems where available.
Across high-income settings, early pandemic phases were characterized by stable or reduced recorded suicide mortality, despite consistent increases in suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, especially among adolescents and young adults, and disproportionately among females. As restrictions eased and health care access resumed, rates of reported suicide attempts rose, revealing substantial latent distress that had been partially obscured by barriers to care and underreporting. Central-Eastern European countries, including Poland, deviated from Western European patterns, showing more pronounced increases in attempts among youth and women and less marked declines in suicide deaths. Persistent under-ascertainment, heterogeneous definitions and fragmented reporting between health, police, and forensic systems limited comparability and likely led to systematic underestimation, particularly in women and in low- and middle-income countries.
Strengthening suicide surveillance requires standardized case definitions, integration of health, police and social data in near real time, systematic disaggregation by key sociodemographic groups, and explicit coverage of non-fatal suicidal behavior. These improvements are essential to guide targeted prevention for high-risk populations during and beyond future public health crises.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Weronika Spychalska, Aleksandra Krawczyk, Paulina Sumlet, Kornelia Kaźmierkiewicz-Makanga , Emilia Piotrowicz, Filip Witowicz, Julia Glińska, Wiktoria Waldon, Maria Gofron, Michał Duliński
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