Citation

Olfson M, Ramchand R, Schoenbaum M. JAMA Psychiatry 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0606

PMID

35442414

Abstract

Despite predictions that suicide rates would dramatically increase in the United States in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic,1 the official rate of suicide deaths in the United States declined by 3.6% from 2019 to 2020.2 Some media reports have heralded this decline, together with the 2.1% decrease in suicide rates from 2018 to 2019, as marking a turning point in the long upward trend of suicide rates in the United States. Various other higher-income countries have also reported stable or declining rates of suicide during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.3 While the recent decline in the reported US suicide rate is certainly encouraging, our optimism for the future is tempered with considerable caution and an ongoing focus on strengthening national suicide risk surveillance, prevention, identification, and treatment programs.

Language: en