Suicide and resilience-related Google searches during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Online searches related to suicide may sometimes be an early proxy indicator for behavioural outcomes. We used interrupted time series regression analyses to examine changes in suicide and resilience-related Google searches worldwide and in the United States during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Searches for the word “suicide” were unchanged worldwide (-1%; 95%CI, -12%-11%) and in the US (-7%; 95%CI, -15%-2%) with decreased searches for “suicide methods” and increased searches for “how to kill yourself” and for resilience-related terms. This study provides potential evidence that suicides may not increase worldwide during the first year of the pandemic.