ArticleBMJ open2023
Impact of loneliness on suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from a cross-sectional online survey in Japan.
Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Loneliness as an Interface Between Alzheimer's Disease and Suicidal Behaviour: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis and Meta-Analytic Factor Analysis.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2026Pooled it
- Predicting suicidal ideation in academic communities using machine learning methods: a cross-sectional study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Associations between loneliness severity and depression and suicidal ideation among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.Aging & mental health · 2026Article
- Cutoff scores for suicidal ideation using the Japanese interpersonal needs questionnaire-15: a cross-sectional study in a high suicide mortality region.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Loneliness, Anxiety Symptoms, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation in the All of Us Dataset.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Smoking status and the onset of suicidal ideation among adults in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.Annals of general psychiatry · 2025Article
- Loneliness and analgesic overuse among low-dose estrogen-progestin users in Japan.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Double Burden of Distress: Exploring the Joint Associations of Loneliness and Financial Strain with Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- The association between loneliness, suicidal ideation, and psychological distress considering family compositions: a cross-sectional study in a Japanese rural area.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Relationship between qualitative and quantitative loneliness and suicidal ideation by occupational classification in the working-age population: a nationally-representative survey.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Married women's decision to delay childbearing, and loneliness, severe psychological distress, and suicidal ideation under crisis: online survey data analysis from 2020 to 2021.BMC public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe aim to reveal how loneliness relates to suicidal ideation following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
designCross-sectional online survey.
settingCommunity cohort study in Japan.
participantsThe second wave of a large web-based survey, Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey, was conducted in February 2021, and we analysed the data of 6436 men and 5380 women who were aged 20-59 years.
main outcome measuresThe prevalence ratios (PRs) of suicidal ideation due to loneliness, depression, social isolation and decline in income during the pandemic and other sociodemographic and economic information were adjusted in the analysis. STATISTICAL
methodsEstimations were conducted by separating a male and female sample. The survey weight (inverse probability weighting) was applied for analyses, and a Poisson regression model was used with all the potential confounders adjected.
resultsOverall, 15.1% of male and 16.3% of female participants were found to have had suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them, 23% of male and 20% of female participants experienced suicidal ideation for the first time. The results of the Poisson regression suggested that those who were feeling lonely had higher PRs for suicidal ideation (4.83 for men (95% CI, 3.87 to 6.16) and 6.19 for women (95% CI, 4.77 to 8.45)). The relationship between loneliness and suicidal ideation remained robust even after adjusting for depression, although there were declines in PRs. Additionally, the results showed that those who were lonely, and continued to feel lonely during the pandemic, had the highest PRs of suicidal ideation.
conclusionLoneliness had both direct and indirect effects on suicidal ideation mediated through depression. Those who felt lonelier during the pandemic had the highest risk of suicidal ideation. It is necessary to adopt national measures focused on providing psychological support to people who feel lonely to prevent them from taking their own lives.
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