Self-harm in the two years of greatest restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.
Odilon Vieira Santos, Letícia Aparecida Machado Lisboa da Silva, Meiry Fernanda Pinto Okuno and 3 others
PMID 39813441WHAT IT FOUND
Self-harm notifications in São Paulo during the pandemic concentrated in adolescent and young adult women, mostly at home, often poisoning, and frequently repeated; most were referred to health services, but not all to specialized mental health.
Key findings
01São Paulo recorded 15,946 self-harm notifications from March 2020 to February 2022; the highest age groups were 15 to 19 years (23%) and 20 to 24 years (18.8%), and 69.9% were female.
02The most common place was the victim's home (76.5%; n=12,197), the most common means was poisoning or intoxication (61%; n=9,733), and 45% (n=7,182) had occurred more than once.
03Professionals referred victims mainly to the Health Care Network (76.5%; n=13,558), but the paper notes not all cases were referred to specialized mental health services.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of notification records, so it cannot show that pandemic restrictions caused self-harm or that referral changed outcomes. The data combine suspected and confirmed self-harm because the TabNet source does not distinguish them, so some records may not be confirmed cases. Important fields had high blank, ignored, or unknown values, including education (38.5%) and motivation (38.8%), so the profile may be incomplete. The study is from São Paulo, which has Violence Prevention Centers and accessible notification data, so it may not reflect smaller cities or regions with less surveillance. Referral counts allow more than one referral per case, so they describe services indicated rather than unique completed referrals.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists funding by FAPESP, process 2022/02017-7, and does not give a separate conflict-of-interest statement.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 45% repeated self-harm and 61% poisoning figures as proof that pandemic restrictions caused self-harm or that referral prevented harm. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of notifications in São Paulo from March 2020 to February 2022, so it cannot show cause or outcome.