[Skip to Content]

Claim CME

Public Health

Suicide-Related Internet Searches During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US

Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA Network Open

Published Online: January 21, 2021

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

John W. Ayers, PhD, MA¹;

Adam Poliak, PhD²;

Derek C. Johnson, PhD, MPH¹;

Eric C. Leas, PhD, MPH³;

Mark Dredze, PhD⁴;

Theodore Caputi, MPH⁵;

Alicia L. Nobles, PhD, MS¹

Author Affiliations

¹Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
²Department of Computer Science, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, New York
³Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Division of Health Policy, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
⁴Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
⁵Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, United Kingdom

Read article on JAMA Network

Read Article Claim CME

Claim CME

Sign in to take quiz and track your certificates

Buy This Activity

Article Information

Accepted for Publication: November 30, 2020.

Published: January 21, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.34261

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2021 Ayers JW et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: John W. Ayers, PhD, MA, Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, #333 CRSF 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093 (ayers.john.w@gmail.com).

Author Contributions: Drs Ayers and Nobles had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Ayers, Poliak, Leas, Dredze, Nobles.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Ayers, Johnson, Leas, Caputi, Nobles.

Drafting of the manuscript: Ayers, Leas, Caputi, Nobles.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Poliak, Johnson, Leas, Dredze.

Statistical analysis: Leas, Caputi.

Obtained funding: Nobles.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Dredze.

Supervision: Dredze.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Ayers reported owning equity positions in Directing Medicine LLC, Health Watcher Inc, and Good Analytics Inc, outside the submitted work. Dr Poliak reported being a paid advisor for Bloomberg LP, MyFitnessPal, and Lincoln Labs. Dr Leas reported receiving personal fees from Good Analytics outside the submitted work. Dr Dredze reported holding equity in Good Analytics, receiving consulting fees from Directing Medicine, and receiving financial support from Sickweather and Bloomberg LP outside the submitted work. Mr Caputi reported receiving personal fees from Good Analytics and having an equity interest in Data Science Solutions outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: This work was supported by grants 587873 and R00RG2545 from the University of California Office of the President Research Grants Program Office.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The University of California Office of the President Research Grants Program Office had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

References

Reger MA , Stanley IH , Joiner TE . Suicide mortality and coronavirus disease 2019—a perfect storm? JAMA Psychiatry. Published online April 10, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1060 PubMed Google Scholar

Simon NM , Saxe GN , Marmar CR . Mental health disorders related to COVID-19–related deaths. JAMA. 2020;324(15):1493-1494. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.19632 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Leas EC , Dredze M , Ayers JW . Ignoring data delays our reaction to emerging public health tragedies like 13 Reasons Why. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020;77(1):102-103. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2755 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Ayers JW , Althouse BM , Leas EC , Dredze M , Allem JP . Internet searches for suicide following the release of 13 Reasons Why. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(10):1527-1529. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.3333 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Barros JM , Melia R , Francis K , et al. The validity of Google trends search volumes for behavioral forecasting of national suicide rates in Ireland. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(17):3201. doi:10.3390/ijerph16173201 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Gordon KH , Bresin K , Dombeck J , Routledge C , Wonderlich JA . The impact of the 2009 Red River Flood on interpersonal risk factors for suicide. Crisis. 2011;32(1):52-55. doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000051 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.