Association of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Low-rescue Suicide Attempts in Patients Visiting the Emergency Department after Attempting Suicide

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may increase the total number of suicide attempts and the proportion of low-rescue attempts. We investigated the factors afecting low-rescue suicide attempts using the risk-rescue rating scale (RRRS) among patients who visited the emergency department (ED) afer attempting suicide before or during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: We retrospectively investigated suicide attempts made by patients who visited our ED from March 2019 to September 2020. Patients were classifed into two groups based on whether they attempted suicide before or during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on demographic variables, psychiatric factors, suicide risk factors and rescue factors were collected and compared.Results: A total of 518 patients were included in the study, 275 (53.1%) of whom attempted suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proportion of patients who made low-rescue suicide attempts difered before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (37.1% vs. 28.8%) (P = 0.046). However, the proportions of patients who made high-risk suicide attempts and high-lethality suicide attempts did not signifcantly difer between the two periods. The independent risk factors for low-rescue suicide attempts were age and the COVID-19 pandemic (odds ratio [OR], 1.02; 95% confdence interval [CI], 1.00–1.03; P = 0.006) (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.03–2.25; P = 0.034).Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with low-rescue suicide attempts in patients visiting the ED afer attempting suicide. Thus, we need to consider the implementation of measures to prevent low-rescue suicide attempts during similar infectious disease crises.