Attempted Suicide by Children Increased During COVID-19

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ATLANTA, GA – A new study published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveals there was a dramatic rise in the number of suicide attempts among children using over-the-counter medications during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, “Suspected Suicide Attempts by Self-Poisoning Among Persons Aged 10–19 Years During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, 2020–2022,” examined the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suspected suicide attempts, specifically by children poisoning themselves, and found “an increase during the pandemic, most notably among children ages 10–12 years, adolescents ages 13–15 years, and females, with the sharpest increase in attempts involving acetaminophen and diphenhydramine.”

Acetaminophen is used to treat fever and mild pain while diphenhydramine is an antihistamine used to treat allergies and the common cold. Both are found in many over-the-counter medications. The pain reliever Ibuprofen and the antidepressants sertraline and fluoxetine were also frequently used.

The authors, Drs. Rita Farah, Saumitra V. Rege, Ryan J. Cole, and Christopher P. Holstege, looked at monthly trends in suspected suicide attempts from January 2019 to September 2022 in children ages 10 to 19 and compared data from 2019 (pre-lockdown) to 2021 to 2022 (post-lockdown). They found that the overall rate of suspected suicide attempts by self-poisoning increased by 30 percent. However, children ages 10 to 12 had the most drastic increase at an alarming 73 percent. In addition, self-poisoning attempts rose 48.8 percent among adolescents ages 13–15 years. As for females, the study found a 38.6 percent overall increase as compared to a 5.6 percent increase in males. Further, the study also revealed an increase in admissions to psychiatric facilities.