Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35722184›Full record

ArticleUpsala journal of medical sciences2022

Comparison of years of life lost to 1,565 suicides versus 10,650 COVID-19 deaths in 2020 in Sweden: four times more years of life lost per suicide than per COVID-19 death.

Rickard Ljung, Maria Grünewald, Anders Sundström, Lena Thunander Sundbom, Björn Zethelius

Abstract read
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Article in Upsala journal of medical sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Rickard LjungThe Swedish Medical Products Agency, Uppsala, Sweden.
Maria GrünewaldThe Swedish Medical Products Agency, Uppsala, Sweden.
Anders SundströmThe Swedish Medical Products Agency, Uppsala, Sweden.
Lena Thunander SundbomThe Swedish Medical Products Agency, Uppsala, Sweden.
Björn ZetheliusThe Swedish Medical Products Agency, Uppsala, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The burden of disease from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is large; however, suicide affects the population year after year. From a public health perspective, it is important to not neglect contributors to the total burden of disease. The aim of this paper is to compare years of life lost (YLL) to suicide with those lost to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: A nationwide cohort study in 2020, in Sweden. YLL was measured as the sex- and age-specific remaining life expectancy at the time of the person's death based on the death risks that pertained to the Swedish population in 2019. YLL to suicide was compared to YLL to COVID-19 and presented by sex and age groups. Suicide deaths in 2020 were estimated as the annual average of suicides in 2015-2019. Results: Annual average of suicide was 1,565, whereof 1,076 (68.8%) men and 489 (31.2%) women. In 2020, 10,650 persons died of COVID-19, whereof 5,681 (53.3%) men and 4,969 (46.7%) women. Estimated total YLL to suicide and COVID-19 in 2020 was 53,237 and 90,116, respectively. The COVID-19 YLL to suicide YLL ratio in 2020 was 1.69 (90,116/53,237). Men accounted for 67.1% of suicide YLL and of 56.4% of COVID-19 YLL. Those 44 years or younger accounted for 60.3% of suicide YLL and 3.9% of COVID-19 YLL. Those 75 years and older accounted for 2.9% of suicide YLL and 60.9% of COVID-19 YLL. On average, each suicide generates 34 YLL (53,237/1,565), and each COVID-19 death generates 8.5 YLL (90,116/10,650). Conclusions: YLL to suicide affects Sweden year after year, foremost attributable to the younger age groups, whereas YLL to COVID-19 is foremost attributable to the elderly. On average, each suicide generates four times more YLL than a COVID-19 death. Enormous efforts and resources have been put on tackling the pandemic, and without these, the burden would probably have been much larger. However, from a public health perspective, it is important to not neglect other contributors to the total burden of disease where national efforts also may have an impact.

Indexed as

COVID-19SuicideAgedCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleSARS-CoV-2Swedenburden of diseaseLife expectancypsychiatric disorderspublic healthSARS-CoV-2suicide

Identifiers

PMID35722184
PMCPMC9169542

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.