THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE ADULT SUICIDE RATE: A SCOPE REVIEW
Keywords:
COVID-19, Pandemics, Social Isolation, Middle-Aged Individuals, SuicideAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to identify whether social distancing measures affected the mental health of individuals above 44 years old and if these adverse effects led to an increase in suicide rates among them. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines on databases including the Virtual Health Library (BVS), Cochrane, Embase, Lilacs, Pubmed, Scielo, Scopus, and Web of Science. 420 articles were identified, of which 26 were included in the final sample after the inclusion and exclusion process conducted on the Rayyan platform, and eligibility criteria were assessed using the AMSTAR-2, CASP, INSA, and TREND checklists to analyze the quality of evidence. Results: The articles indicated that this particular age group experienced adverse effects from the quarantine, with anxiety and depression being the most prevalent conditions. Additionally, the most affected groups were individuals with lower income, women, and married individuals. Conclusion: Social isolation significantly impacted the mental health of the entire population, exacerbating feelings of loneliness, leading to the emergence of anxiety and depressive symptoms, or worsening these conditions in individuals already diagnosed with such disorders. However, there is limited research directly correlating suicide in middle-aged adults with social isolation, indicating the necessity of further studies addressing this topic.
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