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Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China

COVID-19 may increase the risk of suicide, but the conclusion is still unclear. This study was designed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 in China. It was reported that online public searching was associated with their offline thoughts and...

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Autores principales: Chen, Hongguang, Zhang, Konglai, Li, Hui, Li, Mengqian, Li, Shunfei
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9357924/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35958640
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.947765
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author Chen, Hongguang
Zhang, Konglai
Li, Hui
Li, Mengqian
Li, Shunfei
author_facet Chen, Hongguang
Zhang, Konglai
Li, Hui
Li, Mengqian
Li, Shunfei
author_sort Chen, Hongguang
collection PubMed
description COVID-19 may increase the risk of suicide, but the conclusion is still unclear. This study was designed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 in China. It was reported that online public searching was associated with their offline thoughts and behaviors. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the online search for suicide pre-, during, and post-COVID-19 in China. The keywords on suicide, COVID-19, unemployment, and depression were collected in 2019 and 2020 using the Baidu Search Index (BSI). A time-series analysis examined the dynamic correlations between BSI-COVID-19 and BSI-suicide. A generalized estimating equation model was used to calculate the coefficients of variables associated with the BSI-suicide. The BSI-suicide showed a significant increase (15.6%, p = 0.006) from the 5th to 9th week, which was also the point of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. A time-series analysis between BSI-suicide and BSI-COVID-19 showed that the strongest correlation occurred at lag 1+ and lag 2+ week. In the pre-COVID-19 model, only BSI-depression was highly associated with BSI-suicide (β = 1.38, p = 0.008). During the COVID-19 model, BSI-depression (β = 1.77, p = 0.040) and BSI-COVID-19 (β = 0.03, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with BSI-suicide. In the post-COVID-19 model, BSI depression (β = 1.55, p = 0.010) was still highly associated with BSI-suicide. Meanwhile, BSI-unemployment (β = 1.67, p = 0.007) appeared to be linked to BSI-suicide for the first time. There was a surge in suicide-related online searching during the early stage of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. Online suicide search volume peaked 1–2 weeks after the COVID-19 peak. The BSI of factors associated with suicide varied at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings in this study are preliminary and further research is needed to arrive at evidence of causality.
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spelling pubmed-93579242022-08-10 Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China Chen, Hongguang Zhang, Konglai Li, Hui Li, Mengqian Li, Shunfei Front Psychiatry Psychiatry COVID-19 may increase the risk of suicide, but the conclusion is still unclear. This study was designed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 in China. It was reported that online public searching was associated with their offline thoughts and behaviors. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the online search for suicide pre-, during, and post-COVID-19 in China. The keywords on suicide, COVID-19, unemployment, and depression were collected in 2019 and 2020 using the Baidu Search Index (BSI). A time-series analysis examined the dynamic correlations between BSI-COVID-19 and BSI-suicide. A generalized estimating equation model was used to calculate the coefficients of variables associated with the BSI-suicide. The BSI-suicide showed a significant increase (15.6%, p = 0.006) from the 5th to 9th week, which was also the point of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. A time-series analysis between BSI-suicide and BSI-COVID-19 showed that the strongest correlation occurred at lag 1+ and lag 2+ week. In the pre-COVID-19 model, only BSI-depression was highly associated with BSI-suicide (β = 1.38, p = 0.008). During the COVID-19 model, BSI-depression (β = 1.77, p = 0.040) and BSI-COVID-19 (β = 0.03, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with BSI-suicide. In the post-COVID-19 model, BSI depression (β = 1.55, p = 0.010) was still highly associated with BSI-suicide. Meanwhile, BSI-unemployment (β = 1.67, p = 0.007) appeared to be linked to BSI-suicide for the first time. There was a surge in suicide-related online searching during the early stage of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. Online suicide search volume peaked 1–2 weeks after the COVID-19 peak. The BSI of factors associated with suicide varied at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings in this study are preliminary and further research is needed to arrive at evidence of causality. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-07-25 /pmc/articles/PMC9357924/ /pubmed/35958640 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.947765 Text en Copyright © 2022 Chen, Zhang, Li, Li and Li. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Chen, Hongguang
Zhang, Konglai
Li, Hui
Li, Mengqian
Li, Shunfei
Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China
title Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China
title_full Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China
title_fullStr Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China
title_full_unstemmed Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China
title_short Trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China
title_sort trends in online searching toward suicide pre-, during, and post the first wave of covid-19 outbreak in china
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9357924/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35958640
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.947765
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