ArticleHealth promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice2022
Suicide and drug toxicity mortality in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: use of medical examiner data for public health in Nova Scotia.
Article in Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Suicide Following the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: Variation Across Place, Over Time, and Across Sociodemographic Groups. A Systematic Integrative Review.Current psychiatry reports · 2023Pooled it
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on opioid toxicity mortality rates in Nova Scotia: An interrupted time series analysis (2009-2023).Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026Article
- Understanding Canadian experiences of suicidality during the COVID-19 pandemic: protocol of a pan-Canadian qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Substance-Related Acute Toxicity Deaths in Canada From 2016 to 2017: Protocol for a Retrospective Chart Review Study of Coroner and Medical Examiner Files.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Experience at an Academic Medical Examiner's Office.Academic forensic pathology · 2024Article
- Article
- Use of data from death investigation systems to support community health and prevent premature deaths in Canada.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Article
- Excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta, Canada.IJID regions · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe COVID-19 pandemic and governmental responses have raised concerns about any corresponding rise in suicide and/or drug toxicity mortality due to exacerbations of mental illness, economic issues, changes to drug supply, ability to access harm reduction services, and other factors.
methodsData were obtained from the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service. Case definitions were developed, and their performance characteristics assessed. Pre-pandemic trends in monthly suicide and drug toxicity deaths were modelled and the observed numbers of deaths in the pandemic year compared to expected numbers.
resultsThere was a significant reduction in suicide deaths in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nova Scotia, with about 21 fewer non-drug toxicity suicide deaths than expected in March 2020 to February 2021 (risk ratio = 0.82). No change in drug toxicity mortality was detected. Case definitions were successfully applied to free-text cause of death statements and cases where cause and manner of death remained under investigation.
conclusionProcesses for case classification and monitoring can be implemented in collaboration with medical examiners/coroners for timely, ongoing public health surveillance of suicide and drug toxicity mortality. Medical examiners and coroners are the stewards of a wealth of data that could inform the prevention of further deaths; it is time to engage these systems in public health surveillance.
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