Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38926245›Full record

ArticleInternal and emergency medicine2025

Association of the COVID-19 pandemic with the incidence of suicidal/self-harm emergencies in Japan: dependence of trend on the regional length of movement restriction.

Tomoyuki Ushimoto, Koichi Tanaka, Yoshifumi Kaneto, Kento Nakajima, Hideo Inaba

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Internal and emergency medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Tomoyuki UshimotoDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Kahoku-Gun, Uchinada, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan. ushi@kanazawa-med.ac.jp.ORCID 0000-0002-9060-9391
Koichi TanakaDepartment of Emergency Medical Science, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata, Japan.
Yoshifumi KanetoDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Kahoku-Gun, Uchinada, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan.
Kento NakajimaDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Kahoku-Gun, Uchinada, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan.
Hideo InabaKanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesReportedly, coronavirus disease pandemic 2019 (COVID 19) was associated with an increased rate of emergency department visits related to suicide in youth. This study analyzed the influence of the pandemic on the incidence of emergency transportation associated with suicide attempts and self-harm.

methodsThis retrospective cohort study used the Nationwide Emergency Medical Services Transportation Database between 2016 and 2021 for main analyses and extended database for resuscitation-attempted out-of-hospital cardiac arrests cases for secondary analyses.

resultsWe analyzed 204,081 cases with suicidal/self-harm emergencies. Compared with corresponding periods of 4 pre-pandemic years, the incidence of suicidal/self-harm emergencies increased after the end of the first nationwide declaration of emergency and remained high in youth (incidence rate ratio; 95% lower/upper interval, 1.29; 1.22-1.37 and 1.33; 1.28-1.39,), particularly in females (1.35; 1.27-1.46 and 1.40; 1.33-1.48) during the remaining pandemic period (Phase I (June 2020 to December 2020) and Phase II (2021), respectively). Compared with other emergencies, suicidal/self-harm emergencies were associated with a much higher proportion of outpatient deaths regardless of the pandemic. Suicidal out-of-hospital cardiac arrests cases were associated with much poorer outcomes.

conclusionThe incidence of suicidal/self-harm emergency transportation in youth considerably increased during COVID 19 after the end of the first state of emergency declaration in Japan. This pandemic's impact varied among sex and region, appearing most prominently in young females. Rapid accumulation of suicidal/self-harm emergency transportation incidences may serve as an early warning sign for mental health problems and suicidality in Japan.

Indexed as

COVID-19Self-Injurious BehaviorSuicide, AttemptedAdolescentAdultAgedChildCohort StudiesFemaleHumansIncidenceJapanMaleMiddle AgedPandemicsRetrospective StudiesCOVID-19Out-of-hospital cardiac arrestPandemicSelf-harmSuicide

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.