Suicide prevented or delayed? Suicide rates during North Carolina's stay-at-home order.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To assess the impact of the COVID-19-related stay-at-home (SAH) order in North Carolina (NC) on suicide mortality.

Methods

We used controlled interrupted time series to examine weekly suicide death rates before, during and after the SAH order compared with 2015-2019 rates.

Results

Between 1 January 2020 and 30 March 2020, the suicide death rate in NC was stable. On SAH order implementation, there was an immediate decline in the suicide rate of 2.0 deaths per 100 000 person-years (PYs) (95% CI -7.7, 3.7) during the first SAH week, relative to combined weekly data 2015-2019, followed by a sustained decline of 1.0 death per 100 000 PYs (95% CI -2.0, 0.1) per week over the eight weeks under SAH. On lifting the SAH order, we observed an immediate increase in sui

SUBMITTER: Miller VE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12354208 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature