Self-inflicted injury in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: epidemiological analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2317-2770.v27i2p60-66Keywords:
Self-Injurious Behavior, Infection, 2019-nCoV, Child, AdolescentAbstract
INTRODUCTION: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of self-harm in children and adolescents are not fully known. However, the literature shows that this disease and the strategies to contain its transmission affected the mental health of this population. The aim of this study was to describe and compare data on self-harm in children
and adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An ecological study was conducted with data from the Brazilian Information System for Notifiable Diseases due to self-harm, between January 1st and September 31st of the years 2018 to 2021. The data presented a parametric distribution (Shapiro-Wilk test). A comparison between means was performed using an independent t-test. SPSS® version 22.2 was used. RESULTS: A total of 88,483 cases of voluntarily
self-inflicted injuries were analyzed in the period, of which 47,785 correspond to the pre-pandemic period (2018 and 2019) and 40,698 to the pandemic period (2020 and 2021). There was no statistical difference regarding frequency in the surveyed periods (t (34) = 1.533; p = 0.056). A female predominance was found (77% of cases, p = 0.007) in the age group from 15
to 19 years (71% of cases, p = 0.021) and in people with white (46%) or brown skin (38%) p = 0.039). DISCUSSION: No difference was found between the mean number of hospitalizations due to self-inflicted injuries in the surveyed periods. Contrary to these results, the literature shows an aggravation of mental disorders in the pandemic period. The hypothesis for
this divergence is supported by the low notification since medical consultations were focused on the viral disease and other cases were not identified and notified by the doctors. CONCLUSION: Due to the divergence between the results found and the studies in the literature, more research is needed to confirm the true scenario of the incidence of self-harm in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Copyright (c) 2022 Felipe Mazari Sgobbi, Henrique Nicola Santo Antonio Bernardo, Maria Clara Cardoso Seba, Nicoly Ogeda da Silva, Júlia Corrêa Gabriel, Ana Laura Donaire Rapozero, Luan Salguero de Aguiar, Ivan Dieb Miziara, Carmen Sílvia Molleis Galego Miziara
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