{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T11:06:32Z","timestamp":1777547192637,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]],"date-time":"2024-10-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1728604800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000025","name":"National Institute of Mental Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01-MH128198"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01-MH128198"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000025","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100001455","name":"American Foundation for Suicide Prevention","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["DIG-1-110-19"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DIG-1-110-19"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100001455","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>To describe and explore variation in \u2018pandemic-related circumstances\u2019 among suicide decedents during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>We identified pandemic-related circumstances using decedents\u2019 text narratives in the 2020 National Violent Death Reporting System. We use time-series analysis to compare other psychosocial characteristics (e.g., mental health history, interpersonal difficulties, financial strain) of decedents pre-pandemic (2017\/2018: n = 56,968 suicide and n = 7,551 undetermined deaths) to those in 2020 (n = 31,887 suicide and n = 4,100 undetermined). We characterize common themes in the narratives with pandemic-related circumstances using topic modeling, and explore variation in topics by age and other psychosocial circumstances.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>In 2020, n = 2,502 (6.98%) narratives described pandemic-related circumstances. Compared to other deaths in 2020 and to the pre-pandemic period, decedents with pandemic-related circumstances were older and more highly educated. Common themes of pandemic-related circumstances narratives included: concerns about shutdown restrictions, financial losses, and infection risk. Relative to decedents of the same age that did not have pandemic-related circumstances in 2020, those with pandemic-related circumstances were more likely to also have financial (e.g., for 25\u201344 years, 43% vs. 12%) and mental health (76% vs. 66%) psychosocial circumstances, but had similar or lower prevalence of substance abuse (47% vs. 49%) and interpersonal (40% vs. 42%) circumstances.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>While descriptive, these findings help contextualize suicide mortality during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and can inform mental health promotion efforts during similar public health emergencies.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0312027","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]],"date-time":"2024-10-11T17:32:15Z","timestamp":1728667935000},"page":"e0312027","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Psychosocial and pandemic-related circumstances of suicide deaths in 2020: Evidence from the National Violent Death Reporting System"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1798-2285","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Briana","family":"Mezuk","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Viktoryia","family":"Kalesnikava","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Aparna","family":"Ananthasubramaniam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Annalise","family":"Lane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7850-7843","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Alejandro","family":"Rodriguez-Putnam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lily","family":"Johns","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Courtney","family":"Bagge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Burgard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kara","family":"Zivin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0312027.ref001","unstructured":"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 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