Trend and gender-based association of the Bangladeshi student suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic: a GIS-based nationwide distribution

• Published in: International journal of social psychiatry Vol. 69; no. 1; pp. 38 - 46
• Main Authors: Mamun, Mohammed A., Mamun, Md. Al, Hosen, Ismail, Ahmed, Tanvir, Rayhan, Istihak, al-Mamun, Firoj
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-02-2023; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Bangladesh - epidemiology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Female; Gender; Geographic Information Systems; Health problems; Humans; Male; Males; Men; Mental disorders; Mental health; Original; Pandemics; Prevention programs; Prone; Students; Suicide; Surveillance systems; Bangladesh; suicide risk factors; COVID-19 suicide; Bangladesh; Student suicide; gender and suicide
• ISSN: 0020-7640; 1741-2854
• DOI: 10.1177/00207640211065670

Background:
Students are one of the most vulnerable groups to suicide. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a Bangladeshi study was conducted assessing their suicide patterns regarding gender-based associations. But how has the pandemic changed the Bangladeshi students’ suicide patterns is not studied yet, which is investigated herein. Besides, for the first time, this study provides GIS-based distribution of suicide cases across the country’s administrative district.
Methods:
As Bangladesh has no suicide surveillance system, this study utilized media reporting suicide cases following the prior studies. A total of 127 students’ suicide cases from March 2020 to March 2021 were finally analyzed after eliminating the duplicate ones, and data were synthesized following the prior studies. Arc-GIS was also used to distribute the suicide cases across the administrative district.
Results:
Results revealed that female (72.4%; n = 92/127) was more prone to die by suicide than males. About 42.5% of the cases were aged between 14 and 18 years (mean age 16.44 ± 3.512 years). The most common method of suicide was hanging (79.5%; n = 101), whereas relationship complexities (15.7%), being emotional (12.6%), not getting the desired one (11%), conflict with a family member (9.4%), academic failure (9.4%), mental health problem (8.7%), sexual complexities (6.3%), scolded or forbidden by parents (3.9%) were the prominent suicide causalities. In respect to gender and suicide patterns, only the suicide stressor was significantly distributed, whereas the method of suicide was significantly associated with GIS-based distribution. However, a higher number of suicide cases was documented in the capital (i.e. Dhaka) and the northern region than in its surrounding districts.
Conclusions:
The findings reported herein are assumed to be helpful to identify the gender-based suicide patterns and suicide-prone regions in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic to initiate suicide prevention programs of the risky students.