Preventing suicide in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

World Psychiatry 19:2 June 2020 The occurrence of anxiety and/or depression was significantly associated with time spent on COVID-19 related news per day (odds ratio, OR=1.61, 95% CI: 1.42-1.84, p<0.001). The prevalence of depression and/or anxiety was 17.8% among those spending less than 5 min per day on COVID-19 related news, and 27.9% among those who spent more than one hour. Three psychosocial stressors were significantly associated with the development of both anxiety and depression: “I worry about myself and my loved ones being infected by COVID-19” (OR=1.95, 95% CI: 1.54-2.49 for anxiety; OR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.041.50 for depression), “I worry about my income, job, study or ability to pay the loan being affected” (OR=1.38, 95% CI: 1.131.68 for anxiety; OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.35-1.86 for depression), and “Home quarantine causes great inconvenience to my daily life” (OR=1.31, 95% CI: 1.04-1.64 for anxiety; OR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.181.70 for depression). In summary, our study revealed that the COVID-19 epidemic caused a sharp increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression among the general adult population in China, compared to the prevalence of 4% in 2019. The amount of time spent on news related to COVID-19 was significantly associated with the occurrence of these mental health problems, which is likely explained by excessive media coverage. The financial burden caused by massive quarantine was one of the primary stressors related to both anxiety and depression. Besides psychological interventions, financial aid such as wage subsidy, tax exemption, and extended loan repayment may help reduce the anxiety and depression in the general population. Our study was conducted around the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic. A longitudinal follow-up would be helpful to track the changes in anxiety and depression levels at different stages of the epidemic.