ArticleChild and adolescent psychiatry and mental health2024
Pediatric suicide attempts lagged during the COVID-19 pandemic: a European multicenter study.
Article in Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Predictive factors for psychotropic medication prescription in child and adolescent psychiatric emergency care: a machine learning approach using a health data warehouse.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- The associations of childhood adversities and mental disorders with suicidal thoughts and behaviors - Results from the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative.Psychiatry research · 2025Article
- Direct and indirect burden of COVID-19 on mortality in Spain (2020 to 2022).BMC public health · 2025Article
- Child and adolescent mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: an overview of key findings from a thematic series.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Review
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14 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundElevated rates of suicidal behavior were reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, information is scarce on patients' profiles during this period. Studies evoke the potential adverse effects of the mandatory lockdown, but they remain relatively speculative.
methodsWe monitored fluctuations in suicide attempts (SA) in six European countries. We gathered data, retrospectively for under 18-year-old SA episodes (1 January 2018 to 31 December 2021), through records of psychiatric emergency services. We collected clinical profiles individually. We extracted environmental indicators by month, as provided by Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). We used the Pruned Exact Linear Time (PELT) method to identify breakpoints in SA episodes reported for each country, and logistic regressions to estimate changes in patients' characteristics after the breakpoints. Finally, we used a univariate and multivariate negative binomial model to assess the link between SA and OxCGRT indicators, accounting for the delay (lag) between the interventions and their impact on SA.
resultsThe study comprised 2,833 children and adolescents (mean age = 15.1 years (SD 1.6); M: F sex-ratio = 1:5.4). A significant increase in SA was found either 6 or 10 months after the beginning of the pandemic, varying by country. Patients were more likely to be girls (aOR = 1.77 [1.34; 2.34]) and used SA methods "other than self-poisoning" (aOR = 1.34 [1.05; 1.7]). In the multivariate model, an association was found between SA and the contact tracing indicator with an 11 months delay, and the number of COVID-19 deaths with a 3-months delay.
conclusionsFindings confirmed a delayed increase in SA during the COVID-19 pandemic in children and adolescents as well as changes in patients' profiles. The duration and severity of the pandemic emerged as the strongest predictor in the rise of SA. If faced with a similar pandemic in the future, the gap between the onset of pandemic and the increase in suicide attempts presents an opportunity for prevention.
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