Suicides grew among the elderly in the first wave of covid-19, says Fiocruz

by Tiago Pereira, of RBA – A study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) points to an increase in suicides, especially among the most vulnerable groups, in the North and Northeast regions, during the first wave of covid-19 in Brazil. Across the country, the suicide rate dropped by 13% between March and December 2020. However, there was a 26% increase in this cause of death among men aged 60 and over in the North region. In two consecutive quarters there was also a “significant increase” in suicides among women aged 30 to 59 in the same region. The phenomenon was also observed in women over 60 years of age in the Northeast, with an “excess” of suicides of 40%.

Epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, from Fiocruz Amazônia, and psychiatrist Maximiliano Ponte, from Fiocruz Ceará, are responsible for the research. The unprecedented study will be published in International Journal of Social Psychiatrya traditional journal covering research in the field of social psychiatry.

For Orellana, the results point to the need to understand the current health crisis more broadly. He uses the term “syndemic” to refer to the way Covid-19 interacts with other known health challenges, such as infectious diseases and suicides. Or even with the deterioration of environmental and socioeconomic issues.

In this sense, he warns of the possibility of even stronger effects on suicides from 2021, since the number of deaths from covid-19 in this period was even higher. Therefore, according to the epidemiologist, “it is essential to know its magnitude, distribution and possible reasons for suicide, with a view to its prevention”.

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collective health

In turn, Ponte highlights that, like the pandemic, suicide is not just an individual health problem. “This is an issue that is deeply related to economic inequalities and inequalities in access to social and public health services,” he told Agência Fiocruz.

According to him, this was evidenced to the extent that the elderly in the North and Northeast were the most vulnerable to high levels of suicide. The psychiatrist also said that the elderly carry a “double burden”, as they face greater risks for suicide and greater risks for covid-19. “These are factors that feed one another”, he pointed out.

Pandemic is not over

This Sunday (17), the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, announced the end of the State of Emergency in Public Health of National Importance (Espin) resulting from the covid-19. Experts, however, criticized the measure. “They live in a universe without adherence to the real world,” tweeted Ethel Maciel, epidemiologist at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes). Without agreeing with mayors and governors, she said that the end of Espin will have an immediate impact on the actions of the response to the covid-19 emergency.

Ethel highlighted that the pandemic is still not under control in several regions of the world, which are experiencing an increase in cases. She stated that it is still not possible to know if the pandemic is becoming an endemic disease, or if we are just in the interval between epidemic waves. In addition, she stressed that there is no consensus on the indicators to withdraw the emergency classification. “In Brazil, a moving average of 100 deaths in the last 7 days is still too high to be normalized. We are still in a pandemic.”

Today (18) Brazil recorded 66 deaths and 8,470 cases of covid-19, according to the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass). However, throughout the pandemic, Mondays have lower numbers, due to the data dammed during the weekends.

Thus, the daily average of deaths calculated in seven days stood at 100, the lowest mark since January 6. On the other hand, the average number of weekly cases, which stood at 14,269, dropped again, after being practically stable in recent days. In all, since the beginning of the pandemic, Brazil has 662,026 deaths and about 30.2 million officially confirmed cases of covid-19.

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