Patterns of Hospital Presenting Suicide-Related Ideation in Older Adults before and during COVID-19: Findings from a National Clinical Service in Ireland 2018-2021

Objective: To examine changes in trends of hospital-presenting suicide-related ideation in older adults living in Ireland, during the first 24 months of the COVID-19 pandemic and 2018-2019. Methods: Data on presentations of patients aged 60 and older from participating hospitals of the National Clinical Programme for Self-Harm and Suicide-related Ideation were used to compare trends during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) with the preceding period (2018-2019). Poisson regression models were used to estimate trends in the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. Results: There were 1531 presentations for suicide-related ideation to hospital emergency departments in older adults between January 1, 2018-December 31, 2021, with most presentations involving males (57.2%, n = 876). There was a 27% increase in suicide-related ideation presentations during the pandemic years (2020-2021) when compared to 2018-2019 (RR: 1.27, p =.001, 95%CI: 1.14-1.40), with females showing a 29% increase (RR: 1.29, p =.001, 95%CI: 1.111.51) and males a 23% increase (RR: 1.23, p =.002, 95%CI: 1.08-1.40). When examining these trends by years, there were only significant increases in 2021, and no significant increases were observed in 2020. Conclusions: The study findings show that in the second year following the start of the pandemic, significant increases were observed in suicide-related ideation hospital-presentations in older adults. While immediate changes in trends were not observed in the first year of the pandemic, it is important to consider the pandemic's medium and long-term impact on older adults' mental health, to provide adequate support and reduce suicide risk among those presenting with suicide-related ideation.