Kay-Leigh Robinson, Candice Pretorius, Ryan Blumenthal, Pieter Meyer
{"title":"The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Suicide Trends in Pretoria, South Africa.","authors":"Kay-Leigh Robinson, Candice Pretorius, Ryan Blumenthal, Pieter Meyer","doi":"10.1097/PAF.0000000000000945","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Suicide is one of the worldwide leading causes of unnatural death. Pretoria is a capital city of South Africa and is the fourth most populated city in South Africa. Between 16 and 22 suicide cases are recorded daily in South Africa.Case files from the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory were reviewed between 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2021, which spanned the COVID-19 pandemic. All cases of possible and probable suicides were included. One-way analysis of variance and Pearson chi 2 tests were conducted to determine statistical significance in the observed trends.A total of 1820 possible and probable suicide cases were identified. The year following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for the largest number of suicides. White males were the most heavily represented population, followed by Black males. Hanging was the most common method for males, whereas poisoning via ingestion and/or overdose was more commonly used by females.Suicides in Pretoria have increased since previous studies from 9.74% and 10.2% to 13.32%. Methods used have changed among various population groups over the past two decades. This paper examined changes in suicide trends in Pretoria compared to previous studies and highlighted correlations between suicide trends and COVID-19 lockdown measures.</p>","PeriodicalId":55535,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"202-209"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1097/PAF.0000000000000945","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/5/23 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, LEGAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract: Suicide is one of the worldwide leading causes of unnatural death. Pretoria is a capital city of South Africa and is the fourth most populated city in South Africa. Between 16 and 22 suicide cases are recorded daily in South Africa.Case files from the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory were reviewed between 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2021, which spanned the COVID-19 pandemic. All cases of possible and probable suicides were included. One-way analysis of variance and Pearson chi 2 tests were conducted to determine statistical significance in the observed trends.A total of 1820 possible and probable suicide cases were identified. The year following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for the largest number of suicides. White males were the most heavily represented population, followed by Black males. Hanging was the most common method for males, whereas poisoning via ingestion and/or overdose was more commonly used by females.Suicides in Pretoria have increased since previous studies from 9.74% and 10.2% to 13.32%. Methods used have changed among various population groups over the past two decades. This paper examined changes in suicide trends in Pretoria compared to previous studies and highlighted correlations between suicide trends and COVID-19 lockdown measures.
期刊介绍:
Drawing on the expertise of leading forensic pathologists, lawyers, and criminologists, The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology presents up-to-date coverage of forensic medical practices worldwide. Each issue of the journal features original articles on new examination and documentation procedures.
While most articles are available as web based articles, PDF and in ePub reader format, some earlier articles do not have PDFs available. If you would like to view an article in the ePub format, you will need to download an ePub reader to view this file, a number of which are available for free online.