Hospital-treated intentional self-poisoning events and in-hospital mortality in Tehran before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Hospital-treated intentional self-poisoning is common. The possibility of changed (increased) suicidal behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic has been raised. To compare frequencies in self-poisoning events (SPEs) and the proportions with in-hospital mortality, in the year prior to and following the official onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a population of hospital-treated self-poisoning patients in Iran. All self-poisoned patients admitted to Loghman-Hakim Hospital, a clinical toxicology specialty hospital in Tehran, were included. The frequency of SPEs was compared between the one-year periods immediately before and after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic using Poisson regression. Differences in proportions of in-hospital mortality were also compared using logistic regression. A total of 14,478 patients with 15,391 SPEs (8,863 [61.2%] females) were evaluated in the study. There was no difference in the overall frequency of SPEs (relative risk [RR] of 0.99 [CI95% 0.96–1.03]), but a small increase in males (RR 1.07; 1.02–1.13) and a minor decrease in females (RR 0.95; 0.91–0.99). In total, 330 patients died (2.3% of all SPEs). There was no difference in overall in-hospital mortality odds ratio (OR: 0.98 [0.79–1.22]), in females (OR = 1.14 [0.80–1.60]) or males (OR = 0.92 [0.69–1.23]). There was no change in the frequency of SPEs and no difference in the in-hospital mortality proportions, suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic had little or no effect on these aspects of suicidal behavior in Iran.