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Patients discharged from intensive care are at higher risk of suicide, according to new research, suggesting that people who survive a serious COVID-19 infection could also be more likely to harm themselves.
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Being admitted to an intensive care unit increases a person’s later risk of suicide and self-harm, according to a newly published paper from Ottawa researchers.
While the overall risk of suicide and self-harm among ICU survivors is low, the findings have important implications during a pandemic that has put record numbers of people in intensive care, the study’s authors say.
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The study, which was published this week in the British Medical Journal, found that ICU survivors had a 22 per cent higher risk of suicide than discharged hospital patients who had not been in ICU. It also found ICU survivors had a 15 per cent greater risk of self-harm than non-ICU hospital patients.
Colin Perkel
Christine Caron, who lost her legs and one of her arms to septic shock in 2013, is shown at her home in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang May 05, 2021 - 3:30 PM
TORONTO - Patients discharged from intensive care are at higher risk of suicide, according to new research, suggesting that people who survive a serious COVID-19 infection could also be more likely to harm themselves.
The study was based on pre-pandemic data, but the researchers say its findings take on added significance given the unprecedented surge in critical care admissions due to the novel coronavirus. In light of the pandemic, our findings have far more importance now that we know that ICU survivors are going to be at higher risk (of suicide), said Dr. Shannon Fernando, lead author and critical care physician affiliated with the University of Ottawa.