著者

Tatsuhiko Anzai Keisuke Fukui Tsubasa Ito Yuri Ito Kunihiko Takahashi

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20200443, (Released:2020-12-12)

参考文献数

34

被引用文献数

2 22

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Background: Suicide amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is an important issue. In Japan, the number of suicides in April 2020 decreased by nearly 20% from that in 2019. To assess the impact of an infectious disease pandemic, excess mortality is often discussed. Our main purpose was evaluating excess mortality from suicide in Japan during the early pandemic period.Methods: We used data on suicides collected by the National Police Agency of Japan until June 2020. We estimated excess mortality during the early pandemic period (March–June 2020) using a time-series model of the number of suicides before the pandemic. A quasi-Poisson model was employed for the estimation. We evaluated excess mortalities by the categories of age and sex, and prefectures.Results: No significant excess mortality was observed throughout the early pandemic; instead, a downward trend in the number of suicides for both sexes was noted. For males, negative values of excess mortalities below the lower bound of the 95% prediction interval were observed in April and May. All numbers of females during the period were included in the interval, and the excess mortalities in June were positive and higher than those in April and May. In Tokyo, the number of suicides was below the lower bound throughout the period.Conclusion: Our results suggest that various changes such as communication, and social conditions amid the early COVID-19 pandemic induced a decrease in suicides in Japan. However, continuous monitoring is needed to evaluate the long-term effects of the pandemic on suicides.

著者

Hiroyuki Kikuchi Masaki Machida Itaru Nakamura Reiko Saito Yuko Odagiri Noritoshi Fukushima Tomoko Takamiya Shiho Amagasa Keisuke Fukui Takako Kojima Hidehiro Watanabe Shigeru Inoue

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20210397, (Released:2022-04-16)

参考文献数

45

被引用文献数

4

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BackgroundThis longitudinal study aimed to investigate how psychological distress levels changed from early to middle phases of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic depending on the living arrangements of individuals.MethodAn internet-based, longitudinal survey of 2,400 Japanese people was conducted every 5-6 weeks between February 2020 and January 2021. The presence of severe psychological distress (SPD) was measured using the Kessler’s psychological distress scale. Living arrangements were classified into two groups, i.e. living alone or living with others. Mixed-effects logistic regression analysis was performed to assess whether changes in SPD status were different depending on living arrangements.ResultsOf 2400 respondents, 446 (18.5%) lived alone. Although the proportion of SPD in both individuals living alone and those living with others increased to the same extent in the early phase of the pandemic, however, after early phase of pandemic, the distress levels decreased in the group living with others, compared with the group living alone, which remained high. The odds ratio (OR) of developing SPD in interaction term with survey phases tended to be higher among those who lived alone than those who lived with others in Phase 6 (OR: 1.89, CI: 0.99-3.64) and Phase 7 (OR:1.88, CI: 0.97-3.63)ConclusionsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, those living alone are persistently at a higher risk of SPD compared to those living with others. Effective countermeasures targeting those living alone such as enhancing online communication or providing psychological therapies are essential.

著者

Hiroyuki Kikuchi Masaki Machida Itaru Nakamura Reiko Saito Yuko Odagiri Noritoshi Fukushima Tomoko Takamiya Shiho Amagasa Keisuke Fukui Takako Kojima Hidehiro Watanabe Shigeru Inoue

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.32, no.7, pp.345-353, 2022-07-05 (Released:2022-07-05)

参考文献数

45

被引用文献数

4

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Background: This longitudinal study aimed to investigate how psychological distress levels changed from early to middle phases of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic depending on the living arrangements of individuals.Methods: An internet-based, longitudinal survey of 2,400 Japanese people was conducted every 5–6 weeks between February 2020 and January 2021. The presence of severe psychological distress (SPD) was measured using the Kessler’s psychological distress scale. Living arrangements were classified into two groups (ie, living alone or living with others). Mixed-effects logistic regression analysis was performed to assess whether changes in SPD status were different depending on living arrangements.Results: Of 2,400 respondents, 446 (18.5%) lived alone. Although the proportion of SPD in both individuals living alone and those living with others increased to the same extent in the early phase of the pandemic, the distress levels decreased after the early phase of the pandemic in the group living with others, compared with the group living alone, for which SPD remained high. The odds ratio (OR) of developing SPD in interaction term with survey phases tended to be higher among those who lived alone than those who lived with others in Phase 6 (OR 1.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99–3.64) and Phase 7 (OR 1.88; 95% CI, 0.97–3.63).Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, those living alone are persistently at a higher risk of SPD compared to those living with others. Effective countermeasures targeting those living alone, such as enhancing online communication or providing psychological therapies, are essential.

著者

Tatsuhiko Anzai Keisuke Fukui Tsubasa Ito Yuri Ito Kunihiko Takahashi

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.31, no.2, pp.152-156, 2021-02-05 (Released:2021-02-05)

参考文献数

34

被引用文献数

22

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Background: Suicide amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is an important issue. In Japan, the number of suicides in April 2020 decreased by nearly 20% from that in 2019. To assess the impact of an infectious disease pandemic, excess mortality is often discussed. Our main purpose was evaluating excess mortality from suicide in Japan during the early pandemic period.Methods: We used data on suicides collected by the National Police Agency of Japan until June 2020. We estimated excess mortality during the early pandemic period (March–June 2020) using a time-series model of the number of suicides before the pandemic. A quasi-Poisson model was employed for the estimation. We evaluated excess mortalities by the categories of age and sex, and by prefecture.Results: No significant excess mortality was observed throughout the early pandemic; instead, a downward trend in the number of suicides for both sexes was noted. For males, negative values of excess mortalities below the lower bound of the 95% prediction interval were observed in April and May. All numbers of females during the period were included in the interval, and the excess mortalities in June were positive and higher than those in April and May. In Tokyo, the number of suicides was below the lower bound throughout the period.Conclusion: Our results suggest that various changes, such as communication, and social conditions amid the early COVID-19 pandemic induced a decrease in suicides in Japan. However, continuous monitoring is needed to evaluate the long-term effects of the pandemic on suicides.

著者

Hiroyuki Kikuchi Masaki Machida Itaru Nakamura Reiko Saito Yuko Odagiri Takako Kojima Hidehiro Watanabe Keisuke Fukui Shigeru Inoue

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.30, no.11, pp.522-528, 2020-11-05 (Released:2020-11-05)

参考文献数

28

被引用文献数

3 83

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Background: This longitudinal study aimed to examine the changes in psychological distress of the general public from the early to community-transmission phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and to investigate the factors related to these changes.Methods: An internet-based survey of 2,400 Japanese people was conducted in two phases: early phase (baseline survey: February 25–27, 2020) and community-transmission phase (follow-up survey: April 1–6, 2020). The presence of severe psychological distress (SPD) was measured using the Kessler’s Six-scale Psychological Distress Scale. The difference of SPD percentages between the two phases was examined. Mixed-effects ordinal logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the factors associated with the change of SPD status between the two phases.Results: Surveys for both phases had 2,078 valid respondents (49.3% men; average age, 50.3 years). In the two surveys, individuals with SPD were 9.3% and 11.3%, respectively, demonstrating a significant increase between the two phases (P = 0.005). Significantly higher likelihood to develop SPD were observed among those in lower (ie, 18,600–37,200 United States dollars [USD], odds ratio [OR] 1.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10–3.46) and the lowest income category (ie, <18,600 USD, OR 2.12; 95% CI, 1.16–3.86). Furthermore, those with respiratory diseases were more likely to develop SPD (OR 2.56; 95% CI, 1.51–4.34).Conclusions: From the early to community-transmission phases of COVID-19, psychological distress increased among the Japanese. Recommendations include implementing mental health measures together with protective measures against COVID-19 infection, prioritizing low-income people and those with underlying diseases.