IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i19p12835-d935369.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Have Deaths of Despair Risen during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Hania Rahimi-Ardabili

    (Centre for Health Informatics, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia
    Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab), Wollongong 2522, Australia
    School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

  • Xiaoqi Feng

    (Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab), Wollongong 2522, Australia
    School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
    School of Health and Society, Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522, Australia)

  • Phi-Yen Nguyen

    (Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab), Wollongong 2522, Australia
    School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
    School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia)

  • Thomas Astell-Burt

    (Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab), Wollongong 2522, Australia
    School of Health and Society, Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522, Australia)

Abstract

This systematic review synthesized literature on potential impacts of protracted isolation and other disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic on deaths of despair (suicide, overdoses, and drug-related liver diseases). Five electronic databases were searched yielding 70 eligible articles. Extant evidence mostly from high-income countries indicates COVID-19-related disruption may not have influenced suicide rates so far, but there have been reports of increased drug-related and liver disease mortality. Minority groups and women were more vulnerable, indicating the need for stronger equity focus on pandemic recovery and resilience strategies. Further high-quality studies with longer-term follow-up, especially from low-income countries, will inform these strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Hania Rahimi-Ardabili & Xiaoqi Feng & Phi-Yen Nguyen & Thomas Astell-Burt, 2022. "Have Deaths of Despair Risen during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12835-:d:935369
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12835/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12835/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diez Roux, A.V., 2017. "Despair as a cause of death: More complex than it first appears," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(10), pages 1566-1567.
    2. Takanao Tanaka & Shohei Okamoto, 2021. "Increase in suicide following an initial decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 229-238, February.
    3. Casey B. Mulligan, 2020. "Deaths of Despair and the Incidence of Excess Mortality in 2020," Working Papers 2020-185, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    4. Casey B. Mulligan, 2020. "Deaths of Despair and the Incidence of Excess Mortality in 2020," NBER Working Papers 28303, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.304041_8 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Anne Case & Angua Deaton, 2015. "Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century," Working Papers 15078.full.pdf, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Angus Deaton, 2022. "The great divide: education, despair, and death," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 161-168, October.
    2. Aizenman, Joshua & Cukierman, Alex & Jinjarak, Yothin & Nair-Desai, Sameer & Xin, Weining, 2022. "Gaps between official and excess Covid-19 mortality measures: The effects of institutional quality and vaccinations," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    3. Brandily, Paul & Brébion, Clément & Briole, Simon & Khoury, Laura, 2021. "A poorly understood disease? The impact of COVID-19 on the income gradient in mortality over the course of the pandemic," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Igor Burstyn & Tran B Huynh, 2021. "Experiences of coping with the first wave of COVID-19 epidemic in Philadelphia, PA: Mixed methods analysis of a cross-sectional survey of worries and symptoms of mood disorders," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(10), pages 1-28, October.
    5. Casey B. Mulligan & Robert D. Arnott, 2022. "Non-Covid Excess Deaths, 2020-21: Collateral Damage of Policy Choices?," NBER Working Papers 30104, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2021. "Excess Deaths in the United States During the First Year of COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 29503, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Virat Agrawal & Jonathan H. Cantor & Neeraj Sood & Christopher M. Whaley, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Policy Responses on Excess Mortality," NBER Working Papers 28930, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Glover, Andrew & Heathcote, Jonathan & Krueger, Dirk & Ríos-Rull, José-Víctor, 2023. "Health versus wealth: On the distributional effects of controlling a pandemic," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 34-59.
    9. Elisabet Beseran & Juan M. Pericàs & Lucinda Cash-Gibson & Meritxell Ventura-Cots & Keshia M. Pollack Porter & Joan Benach, 2022. "Deaths of Despair: A Scoping Review on the Social Determinants of Drug Overdose, Alcohol-Related Liver Disease and Suicide," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, September.
    10. Sakouvogui Kekoura & Guilavogui Mama Genevieve, 2022. "How are the United States Banks faring during the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence of Economic Efficiency Measures," Open Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 11-29, January.
    11. David J. Hebert & Michael D. Curry, 2022. "Optimal lockdowns," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 263-274, December.
    12. Paul Brandily & Clément Brébion & Simon Briole & Laura Khoury, 2021. "A Poorly Understood Disease? The Evolution of the Income Gradient in Excess Mortality Due to COVID-19 within Urban Areas," Working Papers halshs-03154551, HAL.
    13. Clara E. Jace & Christos A. Makridis, 2021. "Does marriage protect mental health? Evidence from the COVID‐19 pandemic," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2499-2515, November.
    14. Leonardo Becchetti & Gianluigi Conzo, 2021. "Avoiding a “despair death crisis” in Europe: the drivers of human (un)sustainability," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 68(4), pages 485-526, December.
    15. Audrey Redford & Angela K. Dills, 2021. "The political economy of drug and alcohol regulation during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(4), pages 1175-1209, April.
    16. Alexander Cheung & Joseph Marchand & Patricia Mark, 2022. "Loss of Life and Labor Productivity: The Canadian Opioid Crisis," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 303-323, September.
    17. Wim Naudé, 2016. "Is European Entrepreneurship in Crisis?," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(03), pages 03-07, October.
    18. Dow, Wiiliam H & Godoey, Anna & Lowenstein, Christopher A & Reich, Michael, 2019. "Can Economic Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair? Working Paper #104-19," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt14f015df, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    19. van den Berg, Gerard J. & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & von Hinke, Stephanie & Lindeboom, Maarten & Lissdaniels, Johannes & Sundquist, Jan & Sundquist, Kristina, 2017. "Mortality and the business cycle: Evidence from individual and aggregated data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 61-70.
    20. Wang, Huixia & Wang, Chenggang & Halliday, Timothy J., 2018. "Health and health inequality during the great recession: Evidence from the PSID," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 17-30.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12835-:d:935369. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.