Key Points

• Emergency Department Activity: Emergency department visits for suicidal ideation, both in terms of numbers and as a share of total activity, began to rise in 2020 compared to the 2017–2019 period; this trend accelerated sharply in 2021 and the first half of 2022. Thus, the average monthly number of emergency department visits for suicidal ideation was 111 in 2017–2019, 187 in 2020, 268 in 2021, and 467 in the first half of 2022.

• Hospitalizations for suicide attempts: In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, as in most metropolitan regions, there was a significant decline in the hospitalization rate for suicide attempts across all age groups during the first and second lockdowns as well as in the period between lockdowns; this rate then returned to pre-pandemic levels following the second lockdown. Among young women aged 10 to 24, the trend is different, as the hospitalization rate for suicide attempts increased significantly in the region after the second lockdown.

• Suicide mortality: the average annual suicide mortality rate among women over the 2015–2017 period ranged from 2.6 per 100,000 inhabitants in the Rhône to 8.6 in the Haute-Loire, with the other departments in the region having suicide mortality rates ranging from 5 to 8 among women. Among men, this annual mortality rate ranged from 9.5 in the Rhône to 30.5 in the Allier, with the other departments having rates ranging from 17 to 29 per 100,000 inhabitants.