IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v70y2024i1p99-112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Excess suicides in Brazil during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: Gender, regional and age group inequalities

Author

Listed:
  • Jesem Douglas Yamall Orellana
  • Maximiliano Loiola Ponte de Souza
  • Bernardo Lessa Horta

Abstract

Background: While the COVID-19 pandemic’s total impact on global mortality is uncertain, an estimated 15 million excess deaths occurred during the first two pandemic years, suggesting that a broad impact, since several causes of death showed a substantial rise. Aims: To estimate excess suicides in Brazil and evaluate differences within and between subgroups during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Based on suicide data from the mortality information system of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the expected number of suicides was estimated by age group, gender, 4-month periods and regions through quasi-Poisson generalized additive models. Analyses were performed in R software and RStudio. Results: Between March 2020 and February 2022, 29,295 suicides were reported in Brazil, close to what would be expected (30,116; 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI): [28,009, 32,224]), albeit in males and females aged 30 to 59 years and 60 years and over, there were excess suicides in at least one of the six 4-month periods evaluated, especially in the second pandemic year. In the Southeast region, a 28% increase was observed in women 60 years and older during the second year. In the North region, suicide increased 23% and 32% among women aged 30 to 59 years during the first and second pandemic years, respectively. The Northeast region had a 16% excess in suicides among men aged 30 to 59 years and 61% among women 60 years old and older during the second pandemic year, reaching 83% in July to October 2021. Conclusions: During the first 2 pandemic years, the pattern of suicides was not homogeneous in Brazil. There were substantial excess suicides in women aged 30 to 59 years from the North and Northeast, while among the elderly and men there was a consistent pattern in several four-month periods throughout Brazil.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesem Douglas Yamall Orellana & Maximiliano Loiola Ponte de Souza & Bernardo Lessa Horta, 2024. "Excess suicides in Brazil during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: Gender, regional and age group inequalities," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(1), pages 99-112, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:70:y:2024:i:1:p:99-112
    DOI: 10.1177/00207640231196743
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640231196743
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00207640231196743?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Msemburi & Ariel Karlinsky & Victoria Knutson & Serge Aleshin-Guendel & Somnath Chatterji & Jon Wakefield, 2023. "The WHO estimates of excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature, Nature, vol. 613(7942), pages 130-137, January.
    2. Yüksel Okşak & Cüneyt Koyuncu & Rasim Yilmaz, 2023. "The long-run analysis of the association between macroeconomic variables and suicide: the case of Turkic-speaking countries in Central Asia," Central Asian Survey, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 597-616, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kozlov Vladimir & Pahomii Irina & Gagauz Olga & Šmit Jelena, 2024. "Covid-19 Mortality Shock: Demographic and Economic Losses in Moldova," Comparative Southeast European Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 72(1), pages 135-148, March.
    2. Tamás Hajdu & Judit Krekó & Csaba G. Tóth, 2023. "Inequalities in regional excess mortality and life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2316, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    3. Doran, Áine & Colvin, Christopher L. & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2024. "What can we learn from historical pandemics? A systematic review of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).
    4. Pedro Francke & Josue Benites G., 2024. "'Bonos’: Lecciones de las transferencias monetarias no condicionadas durante la pandemia de COVID-19 en Perú," Documentos de Trabajo / Working Papers 2024-534, Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
    5. Matthew J. Cummings & Barnabas Bakamutumaho & Julius J. Lutwama & Nicholas Owor & Xiaoyu Che & Maider Astorkia & Thomas S. Postler & John Kayiwa & Jocelyn Kiconco & Moses Muwanga & Christopher Nsereko, 2024. "COVID-19 immune signatures in Uganda persist in HIV co-infection and diverge by pandemic phase," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Barrot, Jean-Noël & Bonelli, Maxime & Grassi, Basile & Sauvagnat, Julien, 2024. "Causal effects of closing businesses in a pandemic," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Yao, Xuan & Xu, Zeshui & Škare, Marinko & Wang, Xindi, 2024. "Aftermath on COVID-19 technological and socioeconomic changes: A meta-analytic review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    8. Bratti, Massimiliano & Brunetti, I. & Corvasce, A. & Maida, Agata & Ricci, Andrea, 2024. "Did COVID-19 (Permanently) Raise the Demand for "Teleworkable" Jobs?," IZA Discussion Papers 16906, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Andrea Bellucci & Gianluca Gucciardi, 2023. "A Turning Point for Banking: Unravelling the Changing Landscape of Banking Activity in Europe since the COVID-19 pandemic," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 183, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    10. Parrendah Adwoa Kpeli & Günther G. Schulze & Nikita Zakharov, 2024. "Elections and (mis)reporting of COVID-19 mortality," Discussion Paper Series 48 JEL Classification: D7, Department of International Economic Policy, University of Freiburg, revised Apr 2024.
    11. Florian Bonnet & Pavel Grigoriev & Markus Sauerberg & Ina Alliger & Michael Mühlichen & Carlo-Giovanni Camarda, 2024. "Spatial disparities in the mortality burden of the covid-19 pandemic across 569 European regions (2020-2021)," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Jiarui Han & Wanxin Li & Xiangru Zhang, 2024. "An effective and rapidly degradable disinfectant from disinfection byproducts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Joseph A. Lewnard & Chandra Mohan B & Gagandeep Kang & Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2023. "Attributed causes of excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in a south Indian city," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Y. T. Eunice Lo & Dann M. Mitchell & Antonio Gasparrini, 2024. "Compound mortality impacts from extreme temperatures and the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    15. M. Otiende & A. Nyaguara & C. Bottomley & D. Walumbe & G. Mochamah & D. Amadi & C. Nyundo & E. W. Kagucia & A. O. Etyang & I. M. O. Adetifa & S. P. C. Brand & E. Maitha & E. Chondo & E. Nzomo & R. Ama, 2023. "Impact of COVID-19 on mortality in coastal Kenya: a longitudinal open cohort study," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:70:y:2024:i:1:p:99-112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.