S. Khedr1, V. Layrisse-Landaeta1, Z. Verzani3, V. Yuan1, K. Khariton1,2, S. Y. Chao1,2 1NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, Surgery, Flushing, NY, USA 2Weill Cornell Medical College, Surgery, New York, NY, USA 3Weill Cornell Medical College, Population Health Sciences, New York, NY, USA
Introduction:
The COVID-19 pandemic has made significant impacts on our society, including an increase in reports of depression and anxiety globally. Our study investigates the trend of self-inflicted injuries since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and its relation to different racial and ethnic populations.
Methods:
Data was extracted retrospectively from the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement (TQIP) dataset. Patients who had a self-inflicted injury between January 2018- December 2021 were included. Pre-COVID was defined as the period between 2018-2019 and COVID 2020-2021. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed to identify associations between rates of self-inflicted injuries and COVID years, sex, race, ethnicity, and age group.
Results:
57,853 patients with self-inflicted injuries were included, of which 28,026 (48%) were pre-COVID and 29,827 (52%) were COVID. Overall, lower rates of self-inflicted injuries were observed during COVID compared to pre-COVID (OR 0.97, 0.96-0.99, p<0.001). However, Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) (OR 1.25, 1.18-2.14, p<0.001), American Indians (OR 2.01, 1.88-2.14, p<0.001), and patients categorized as Other (OR 1.13, 1.09-1.16, p<0.001) had higher odds of self-inflicted injuries when compared to White patients. Comparatively, Black patients had lower odds of self-inflicted injury compared to White patients (OR 0.91, 0.89-0.93, p<0.001). Non-Hispanic patients had lower odds of self-inflicted injury compared to Hispanic patients (OR 0.93, 0.91-0.96, p<0.001). These relationships persisted after controlling for confounding variables, however, they did not for patients categorized as Other and Non-Hispanic. Interestingly, after multivariate logistic regression, Non-Hispanic patients showed a significant increase in self-inflicted injuries (OR 1.38, 1.34-1.42, p<0.001).
Conclusions:
Our data shows that AAPI and American Indian patients were more likely to be affected by self-inflicted injuries during COVID-19 pandemic. More research is needed to study why certain racial groups were more affected during the pandemic. This may help guide culturally relevant mental health initiatives that are needed to help at-risk groups from further harm.
